BLACK 


BERT   BENJAMIN 
CUNNINGHAM 


GENERAL 
LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY    OF 
CALIFORNIA 


'fX<U     C 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 
THE  CHRONICLE  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 


AL5ERT  BENeJAMIN 
CUNNINGHAM 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,   1922,  by 
ALBERT  BENJAMIN  CUNNINGHAM 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

THE  LURE 7 

I.  THE  SPAWN 1 1 

II.  INFANCY 16 

III.  COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY 25 

IV.  NATURAL  SELECTION 37 

V.  THE  EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY 51 

VI.  THE  DESPOILERS 62 

VII.  A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE 71 

VIII.  GREAT  FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER  ...    85 
IX.  THE  BATTLERS  .  .  102 


M844808 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

"Male  and   female  kept   racial  vigil  over   the 

nest." 12 

"The  bass  was   terrified  at   sight  of  this  tra- 
ditional enemy." 30 

"A  fish  hawk,  ancient  foe  of  the  bass,  swooped 

down." 66 

"Old  Black  Bass  steeled  his  mighty  heart  for 

the  conflict." 89 


AM  the  spirit  of  the  fisherman.     I 
sit   by   the   riverside    and    hear   the 
splash  of  trout  in  the  gray  morning. 
I  go  to  the  lake  at  evening  and  see  the  bass 
flash    under   the  sweeping    bough    of    the 
birch.    I  dream  my  dreams  of  fish. 

I  enter  the  city  office  when  the  breath 
of  May  blows  warm  and  whisper  to  those 
who  love  me  of  white  falls  and  quiet  waters 
in  the  vastness  of  open  spaces. 

I  hover  over  the  campfire  where  my 
kindred  are  gathered  and  listen  to  their  tales 
of  great  catches,  of  unnamed  winding 
rivers,  of  fish  that  fight  in  waters  that  are 
cold. 

I  am  as  old  as  the  River  Nile,  where  the 
ancient  Pharos  cast  their  lines  among  the 

7 


8  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

rushes;  I  am  as  young  as  the  barefoot  boy 
hurrying  across  the  meadow  with  his  paw- 
paw pole. 

I  have  my  loves  and  my  hates.  No  words 
can  record  my  aversion  for  the  person  (is 
he  man  or  devil?)  who  snares  the  little  fish 
under  size,  whose  abortive  selfishness  leads 
him  to  continue  when  the  creel  is  full  and 
who  catches  the  mother  at  spawning  time. 
To  me  he  is  the  human  wolverine,  the  fish 
glutton;  and  for  him  I  have  loathing  as 
well  as  hate. 

But  there  is  another  who  angles  for  love- 
love  of  the  blue-green  softness  of  lake,  love 
of  cold  hurrying  waters,  love  of  the  camp- 
fire  below  the  pines.  He  matches  his  in- 
genuity with  the  cleverness  of  fish,  and  gives 
them  a  chance.  He  knows  when  he  has 
caught  enough,  and  he  is  tender  with  the 
little  ones.  To  him  I  would  dedicate  this 
tale. 

In  it  I  shall  tell  of  Old  Black  Bass  as  I 
have  seen  him  on  dusky  evenings  where  the 
whippoorwill  calls. 

Old  Black  Bass  was  the  leader  of  his 
school.  He  was  big  of  body,  aggressive  of 
spirit,  and  bold.  With  him  was  cleverness 


THE  LURE  9 

in  eluding  the  canniest  angler,  and  his  life 
knew  both  sorrow  and  joy,  love  and  bitter- 
ness. 

If  the  reading  of  his  story  leads  you  to 
greater  love  of  the  waters,  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  all  his  kindred,  and  to  manifest 
forever  the  attitude  of  the  true  sportsman, 
then  I,  the  spirit  of  the  fisherman,  shall  be 
satisfied. 


HE  moon  was  first  a  luminous  cres- 
cent etched  sharply  against  the  soft 
blue  of  the  sky.    Then  it  came  full 
and  round  and  threw  a  silver  mantle  like 
a  sheer  bridal  veil  over  the  placid  waters  of 
the  lake.  It  waned  with  the  nights  to  a  pale 
shadow,  one  side  sheared  away.    Finally  it 
vanished,  and  darkness  was  over  the  waters. 
During  the  major  part  of  its  phases,  as 
it  waxed  and  waned,  a  black  bass  in  the 
mouth  of  a  quiet  cove  had  kept  a  long  racial 
vigil.     Fifteen  yards  from  shore,  she  had 
guarded  her  spawn  bed  with  a  vigilance 
absolute  and  ceaseless.     Tired  she  grew, 
yes ;  but  neglectful,  never.    She  was  one  of 
II 


12  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

the  mothers  of  the  world,  paying  in  this 
watchfulness  her  travail  for  the  life  so  soon 
to  be. 

She  was  a  large-mouth.  And  while 
slender  of  form,  she  was  agile  and  strong. 
Her  speed  as  she  darted  at  an  approaching 
enemy  was  as  the  swiftness  of  light ;  yet  as 
she  hung  above  the  nest  in  the  quiet  hours 
with  slight  movement  save  the  gentle  un- 
dulation of  pectoral  and  pelvic  fins,  she  was 
a  daughter  of  the  Graces,  beautifully 
formed. 

Many  times  during  those  days  of  vigil  a 
great  bass  slipped  from  his  position  as  outer 
guard  fifteen  feet  away  and  approached  her 
with  friendliness  and  respect.  Where  she 
was  slender  he  was  mighty;  while  she  was 
gentle  he  was  pugnacious  and  aggressive; 
where  she  was  light  of  color  he  was  exces- 
sively dark.  But  when  they  came  together 
it  was  on  a  plane  of  equality,  for  the  eggs  on 
the  nest  she  had  deposited  and  he  had 
fertilized ;  they  should  be  the  parents  of  the 
spawn. 

Seeing  the  two  together  on  the  occasions 
when  he  hung  over  the  nest  with  her,  one 
knew  that  the  spawn  from  this  union  should 


"Male  and  female  kept  racial  vigil  over  the  nest." 


THE  SPAWN  13 

be  the  product  of  nature's  choicest  selection, 
for  she  on  her  side  and  he  on  his  were 
typical  of  the  best  of  the  species. 

It  was  on  a  memorable  morning  twenty- 
two  days  after  the  eggs  were  deposited  that 
the  spawn  began  to  hatch.  Little  tiny 
chubs  one  fourth  of  an  inch  long  were  in 
the  water  where  days  before  the  mother 
had  kept  watch  over  stillness;  small  wee 
bits  of  protoplasm  that  expressed  in  random 
reflex  movement  the  life  that  had  been  given 
to  them. 

Four  days  passed.  As  morning  advanced 
the  little  minnows  rose  nearer  the  surface 
and  were  warmed;  at  evening  they  settled 
back  on  the  nest.  The  mother  kept  up  a 
circling  guard,  going  round  and  round  the 
school. 

Slowly  the  tiny  sac  disappeared  from 
their  bodies.  They  came  clean ;  their  birth 
process  was  over.  Then  for  the  first  time 
the  mother  bass  showed  signs  of  restlessness. 
It  was  as  if,  her  task  nearly  finished,  she 
fretted  to  be  free:  just  as  the  collie,  the 
sheep  corralled,  yawns  her  boredom  and 
whimpers  for  the  distant  places. 

She  watched  the  inchoate  movements  of 


14  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

the  tiny  progeny  with  more  and  more  a 
turning  of  her  body  toward  the  still  cold 
waters  of  the  lake.  Within  her  was  the  deep 
and  formless  call  of  nature,  to  be  away. 

More  with  imperious  movements  of  the 
body  than  by  any  conscious  guidance  the 
parent  directed  her  tiny  offspring  toward 
the  shore.  They  did  not  follow;  they  were 
swept  along  by  the  swirling  currents  created 
by  her  activity. 

They  moved  toward  the  base  of  the  cove. 
Arriving  there,  she  circled  the  spot  slowly, 
again  watchful  and  alert,  inspecting  for 
dangers  the  new  quarters. 

No  sooner  was  her  tail  turned  than  the 
little  followers  lifted  to  the  warmer  surface 
water.  A  belted  kingfisher  dropped  from 
a  tamarack  and  with  whir  of  wings  struck 
the  water.  Its  aim  was  true,  and  the  family 
was  lessened  by  three. 

The  mother  bass  whirled  and  reflexively 
darted  for  the  deep ;  then  came  back  trem- 
bling to  the  terrified  school.  For  a  moment 
the  fret  to  be  away  was  swallowed  up  in 
the  old  maternal  solicitude. 

But  for  a  moment  only.  She  huddled  the 
little  ones  together,  then  hung  motionless 


THE  SPAWN  15 

above  them.  Suddenly  she  looked  tired. 
There  was  noticeable  now  a  leanness  of 
body,  a  weariness  about  the  heavy  cartilage 
of  her  mouth.  Her  eyes  were  spent. 
Through  them  she  surveyed  the  little  ones, 
and  sadly,  as  though  the  moment  of  farewell 
occasioned  a  wordless  regret.  Anxiety  was 
there  too,  as  if  she  hesitated  to  leave  them 
unprotected  in  a  life  so  full  of  peril. 

A  minute  passed,  while  mother  surveyed 
her  tiny  spawn.  Then  a  soft  wind  moved  on 
the  face  of  the  waters.  Tiny  wavelets 
riffled  the  surface  and  broke  in  soft 
cadence  on  the  pebbly  shore. 

It  was  a  call,  a  signal  to  the  cool  feeding 
grounds.  From  the  mother  bass  the  droop 
disappeared,  weariness  vanished.  She 
seemed  to  knit  together  with  a  growing 
energy.  She  lifted  nearer  the  surface, 
swung  about  and  headed  out.  The  opening 
and  closing  of  gills,  a  flash  of  the  supple 
caudal  fin,  and  she  was  gone. 

She  had  said  farewell,  leaving  her  little 
ones  to  grow  and  develop  according  to  the 
form  and  purpose  determined  for  them  by 
nature,  the  great  mother  of  us  all. 


II 


|HE  family  of  tiny  bass  was  to  make 
its  home  in  the  cove.    Nor  was  ever 
a  mansion  built  for  the  residence  of 
man   more   beautiful   than   this    sheltered 
recess. 

Lone  Pine  Lake  is  itself  worthy  of  full- 
est acquaintance.  It  is  a  lake  of  the  high 
mountains,  formed  partly  by  nature,  aided 
by  a  three-foot  dyke  of  man's  building  at 
the  outlet,  and  fed  by  a  blue  stream  from  the 
north. 

This  dyke  of  man's  making  accounts  for 
many  of  the  fascinating  surprises  of  the 
lake.  Before  it  was  built,  some  of  what  is 
now  water  was  then  sloping  meadow, 

16 


INFANCY  17 

crossed  and  criscrossed  by  broad  stone 
fences.  Now,  these  ribs  of  stone  run  far 
into  the  lake,  wonderful  as  home  of  rock 
bass,  splendid  means  whereby  the  angler 
may  wade  to  deeper  water,  and  magic  reefs 
for  white  waves  in  a  high  wind. 

Surrounding  the  entire  body  of  water  are 
the  trees:  slender  tamaracks  lifting  like 
artists'  brushes  dipped  in  pale  green  paint 
on  the  broad  canvas  of  the  sky;  white 
birches  with  boles  eight  and  ten  inches  in 
diameter,  and  smooth  as  the  throat  of  a 
swan;  oaks  with  the  omnipresent  sprouts 
about  their  bases ;  and  beech,  their  branches 
sweeping  low. 

The  water  rises  slightly  in  winter  and 
falls  in  summer,  so  that  at  fishing  time  there 
is  a  rim  around  the  lake  bare  of  foliage, 
and  covered  here  with  great  black  bowlders, 
there  with  pebbles  and  sand. 

The  lake  itself  changes  with  the  whim  of 
the  day.  Of  early  morning  it  lies  still  and 
warm,  a  white  fog  playing  yard  high  over 
the  surface.  As  the  sun  touches  it  the  mist 
vanishes  and  the  waters  lie  in  the  embrace 
of  light  like  a  green  park  close-mown. 

Mid-afternoon  finds  the  breezes  playing 


1 8  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

over  the  surface,  sending  soft  waves  to  lap 
the  shore,  catching  up  riffles  far  out  and 
causing  them  to  leap  and  fall  like  tiny 
whitecaps. 

Water-bugs  form  in  groups  near  the  shore 
and  swim  indolently,  their  black  glossy 
backs  like  ebony  buttons  on  a  plush  table. 
Water  Striders  hop  awkwardly  about, 
and  the  Ephemerid  flies  low  over  the  water. 

Of  evening  there  is  about  the  whole  lake 
the  mysterious  air  of  life.  Gnats  drop  into 
the  water  to  be  snapped  up  by  smaller  fry. 
From  'way  up  in  the  river  inlet  the  bullfrog 
croaks  a  hoarse  mating  call.  Trees  cast  a 
darkening  shadow,  then  none  at  all.  The 
hum  of  insects  is  in  the  air.  A  luckless  moth 
drops  down,  and  instantly  there  is  a  swirl 
of  water  and  the  open  mouth  of  a  great  bass. 
A  long  pickerel,  tapering  as  an  Indian  bow, 
leaps  up  and  disappears,  leaving  scarcely  a 
ripple  behind. 

It  was  on  this  lake,  and  in  a  cove  of  it, 
that  the  mother  bass,  her  spawning  over, 
left  her  family.  The  bottom  here  tapered 
gently  to  the  shore.  A  great  bowlder,  half 
out  of  water  and  near  the  bank,  provided 
crannies  and  a  cool  shade.  A  small  white 


INFANCY  19 

birch  grew  low,  and  its  branches  hung 
partly  over  the  water. 

For  a  few  days  the  school  of  tiny  bass 
did  little  more  than  wriggle  in  the  water. 
They  partook  of  no  food.  It  was  as  if  there 
was  that  within  them  that  sustained  life  and 
impelled  growth  without  sustenance.  Even 
as  a  grain  of  wheat  placed  in  water  seems 
to  have  life  within  it  that,  coupled  with  the 
nourishment  it  receives  from  the  water,  will 
enable  it  to  sprout  and  reach  a  certain 
growth,  so  the  tiny  bass  seemed  to  develop 
from  within  save  as  the  water  sustained 
them. 

Then  faint  hunger  pangs  quickened  them 
and  they  fed,  now  on  minute  Crustacea  to  be 
found  on  the  bottom,  now  on  insect  larvae 
that  drifted  through  the  water,  and  occa- 
sionally on  the  small  insects  that  fell  upon 
the  surface. 

For  three  months  their  history  is  a  record 
en  masse.  They  lived  together  in  a  group 
no  one  member  of  which  was  particularly 
set  apart  from  the  others.  Seen  from  above, 
the  school  resembled  the  shadow  of  a  fragile 
shawl  thrown  on  the  surface  of  the  water. 
Of  individuation,  whereby  one  became 


20  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

marked  or  distinguished  from  the  other, 
there  was  none.  They  were  a  single  family, 
and  their  home  was  the  common  water. 

Yet  even  in  this  early  period  some  mys- 
terious selective  agency  seemed  interfering 
with  life.  Without  apparent  cause,  many 
turned  their  bellies  up  and  died.  They  rose 
to  the  top  and  floated  there,  tiny  white 
bodies  an  inch  long,  with  big  heads  and 
slight  crimson  slits  at  the  under  gills.  Na- 
ture had  rejected  these  as  unfit. 

Others  fared  differently.  When  the  lake 
was  unusually  rough  and  the  waves  swept 
shoreward,  they  were  carried  to  the  land. 
They  could  not  stem  the  inward  current; 
and  once  cast  ashore  they  could  not  flap  back 
down.  They  were  accordingly  left  to  die, 
far  up  on  the  dry.  It  was  the  price  nature 
exacted  for  their  weakness. 

Twice  havoc  was  wrought  in  another  and 
more  tragic  manner.  On  a  memorable 
afternoon  a  great  black  shape  slipped 
through  the  water  and  bore  down  on  the 
school.  He  swam  aggressively,  and  struck 
with  the  speed  of  wind.  When  his  great 
jaws  closed  five  of  the  little  school  slid  down 
his  wide  gullet. 


INFANCY  21 

He  hung  for  a  moment,  alert  for  sight  of 
others,  then  jerked  about  and  continued  on 
his  way.  The  spirit  that  broods  over  the 
waters  saw  his  raid  and  smiled :  he  was  the 
father  of  the  school,  and  had  fed  on  his 
own  young. 

Six  days  after  this  something  else  hap- 
pened. It  was  an  occurrence  to  start  reflec- 
tion over  the  accomplishment  of  maturity; 
to  cause  one  to  think  that  all  nature  is 
against  the  young,  and  that  the  few 
who  survive  and  reach  adulthood  have 
achieved  a  signal  victory  not  vouchsafed  to 
the  many. 

A  second  bass  swam  into  the  cove,  paler 
of  color  than  the  first,  and  more  slender. 
She  bore  the  markings  of  the  female,  for 
she  was  the  mother  of  the  spawn. 

With  sure  confidence  she  charged  the 
school.  Some  leaped  clear  of  the  water  in 
their  convulsive  terror  to  escape.  Others 
darted  for  the  protection  of  the  friendly 
bowlder,  to  hang  trembling  in  its  crevices. 
But  a  few  were  less  nimble.  For  their 
inability  to  escape  they  paid  the  forfeit  that 
sooner  or  later  nature  ever  exacts  from  all 
of  her  children  less  fitted  than  others  to  sur- 


22  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

vive :  they  reposed  as  food  in  the  very  body 
where  four  months  before  they  had  lain  as 
eggs  ready  for  the  spawn. 

Nor  was  this  heartless;  it  is  merely  na- 
ture's way.  With  the  bass  there  is  no  such 
organ  as  memory  in  the  sense  in  which  we 
understand  the  term.  The  bass  has  no 
cortex,  and  the  cortex  is  the  brain  center  in 
which  our  memories  are  stored. 

With  the  fish  memory  is  physiological. 
In  the  presence  of  external  stimuli  they  are 
roused  to  anger  or  lulled  to  contentment 
or  stirred  to  regard.  But  when  the  external 
factors  are  removed  they  do  not  recall  the 
state  produced  by  them,  as  men  do.  In  joy 
man  recalls  his  sorrow;  in  joy  the  bass 
merely  and  only  experiences  joy. 

Man's  mind  expresses  itself  in  three 
directions :  toward  the  past,  which  is  mem- 
ory; toward  the  present,  which  is  realiza- 
tion ;  and  toward  the  future,  which  is  antici- 
pation. With  the  bass  there  is  only  the 
present. 

So  in  this  case.  When  the  pressure  of 
her  eggs  led  the  mother  bass  to  deposit  them, 
the  action  called  forth  in  her  the  whole 
series  of  movements  connected  with  the 


INFANCY  23 

maternal  process.  She  prepared  and  pro- 
tected her  nest,  and  guarded  the  young  four 
days,  but  when  she  bade  them  farewell  the 
set  of  instincts  called  out  by  the  natal  proc- 
esses vanished  with  her  going. 

Maternity  over,  she  was  again  the  bold 
feeder.  In  the  presence  of  her  own  young 
she  now  felt  only  the  hunger  call.  Memory 
of  them  she  had  none;  so  on  them  she  fed 
and  was  satisfied.1 

So  it  was  with  this  school,  that  in  the 
midst  of  life  there  was  always  death.  Na- 
ture eliminated  the  unfit.  Sometimes  by 
disease  from  within,  or  by  waves  from  with- 
out; or,  again,  by  the  foraging  of  carnivori, 
the  school  was  cut  down. 

But  always  some  escaped.  Nature  kills, 
but  nature  makes  provision  for  life.  While 
some  perished  others  thrived.  And  through 
the  very  activity  expended  in  escaping  death 
they  developed  a  greater  hardihood  than 
had  their  lives  been  an  existence  of  security. 
They  fought  to  live,  and  the  fighting  made 
them  fit  to  live. 

So  passed  five  months.    And  at  the  end 

JPor  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  psychology  offish,  the   reader  is  referred  to  the 
admirable  article  in  The  Annual  Report  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1899,  pp. 


24  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

the  family  was  not  a  mass  struggling  col- 
lectively ;  it  was  an  aggregate  of  individuals, 
each  expressive  both  of  the  native  tendencies 
born  with  his  organism  and  of  the  scars  he 
had  received  in  his  own  life  struggles. 

Because  of  this  individuation  the  family 
may  no  longer  be  considered  en  masse,  but 
separately,  each  as  playing  his  distinct  role 
in  the  great  act  we  call  life. 


Ill 


ISH  are  not  named  at  the  beginning 
of  life,  as  people  are.  When  they 
finally  are,  the  name  is  not  a  word, 
but  an  attitude.  A  fish's  name  to  other  fish 
is  the  mental  impression  they  have  of  him, 
inarticulate  but  real. 

Leaper  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  fish  of 
our  school,  not  because  he  is  so  addressed 
by  the  others,  but  because  the  dominant 
thought  of  him  is  that  he  leaps  through  and 
out  of  the  water  more  gracefully  than  any 
other  member  of  the  family. 

Had  they  been  possessed  of  words,  as  we 
are,  they  would  have  named  him  accord- 
ingly. Lacking  these,  they  simply  had  the 

25 


26  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

thought  without  the  word  symbol  for  it. 
But  because  this  is  a  tale  for  men,  human 
symbols  must  be  used  to  indicate  the  fishes' 
thought. 

At  the  age  of  five  months  Old  Black  Bass 
was  the  largest  member  of  his  school.  From 
tip  to  tip  he  measured  six  and  one  half 
inches.  Furthermore  he  displayed  a  rugged 
hardihood  that  made  him  appear  more  ma- 
ture and  formidable  than  his  fellows. 

He  was  on  this  morning  occupying  his 
favorite  place  by  the  great  bowlder  and 
just  beneath  the  overhanging  bough  of  the 
birch.  The  spot  was  favored  by  him,  since 
the  bowlder  provided  protection  and  the 
bough  many  luscious  morsels;  and  it  was 
possessed  by  him  because  his  size  enabled 
him  to  get  what  he  should  want. 

The  day  was  warm.  On  the  bank  beyond 
the  bowlder  sounds  of  laughter  punctuated 
the  awkward  efforts  of  a  little  baby  learning 
to  walk.  The  little  fellow  toddled  toward 
the  shore  line  and  with  a  great  show  of 
effort  tossed  a  golden  orange  into  the 
water. 

Revolving  round  and  round,  it  floated 
gayly  out  to  the  big  rock.  Old  Black  Bass 


COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY      27 

sank  deeper  to  avoid  any  possible  danger, 
then  rose  tentatively  for  closer  inspection. 

The  orange  seemed  harmless.  He  even 
punched  it  with  his  nose,  looking  ridicu- 
lously serious  the  while.  Behind  him  and 
beneath  there  was  a  great  rush:  the  entire 
school  was  advancing  to  explore. 

Leaper  the  Delightful,  always  frolicsome 
and  gay,  darted  upward  and  with  swirl  of 
tail  spun  the  sphere  round  and  round.  He 
darted  beyond  it  and  returned ;  leaped  clear 
of  the  water  and  encircled  it,  his  small  body 
flashing  in  the  sun. 

It  became  a  game.  Nick-fin  struck  from 
beneath  and  the  orange  bobbed  up  and 
down.  Even  little  Sidie,  who  had  not  been 
acting  just  right  of  late,  joined  in  the  sport. 
And,  seeing  her  coming,  Leaper  cleared  the 
way  for  her  so  she  might  have  a  free  chance 
clear  of  the  others. 

The  little  fellows  were  sportive.  They 
leaped  clear  of  the  water  and  came  down 
panting  but  thrilled.  They  churned  the 
surface  to  a  tiny  turmoil  at  which  they  grew 
excited  and  fled  only  to  return  again. 

The  game  then  took  on  the  nature  of  a 
training.  For  just  as  among  humans  play 


28  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

is  often  a  preparation  for  life  where  the  girl 
with  her  dolls  learns  the  art  of  motherhood 
and  the  boy  with  his  gun  the  knack  of 
defense,  so  now  the  play  became  a  prepara- 
tion for  later  life. 

They  struck  at  the  orange.  From  all 
angles  they  darted  for  it,  measuring  dis- 
tance, calculating  velocity,  and  ever  striving 
for  accuracy.  All  except  Old  Black  Bass. 

When  the  play  first  began  he  subsided 
and  drew  apart.  From  his  vantage  he 
watched  with  what  amounted  to  downright 
disdain  the  caperings  of  his  brothers  and 
sisters.  Only  once  did  he  seem  pleased— 
when  Leaper  struck  wild. 

It  was  not  until  Gloria  struck  that  the 
thing  seemed  to  grow  personal  with  him. 
But  when  she  advanced,  missed,  and  re- 
turned in  some  confusion,  he  darted  im- 
periously out. 

He  had  a  way  of  attracting  attention,  for 
at  five  months  he  was  a  grandstander.  Now 
all  retired  to  give  him  room.  And  he 
struck.  He  struck  with  uncommon  preci- 
sion and  strength,  sending  the  orange  whirl- 
ing a  full  foot.  He  turned,  cast  a  veiled 
glance  at  Gloria,  and  swam  away. 


COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY      29 

Then  tragedy  stalked  in.  Near  the  bot- 
tom of  the  bowlder  was  an  oblong  cavity 
where  stone  and  earth  failed  to  meet.  It 
formed  a  blind  tunnel  seven  inches  high 
and  four  wide  in  along  the  side  of  the  rock. 

This  tunnel  was  eschewed  by  all,  yet  all 
were  itchingly  curious  about  it,  for  the  fish 
is  possessed  of  a  constant  curiosity.  So 
when  all  were  together  and  one  started  to 
enter  it,  there  was  such  a  storm  of  dis- 
approval as  to  keep  him  out. 

But  when  the  game  started  about  the 
orange  White  Belly  slunk  away,  circled  the 
bowlder,  came  again  in  sight  of  the  others 
and  finding  himself  unobserved,  slipped 
into  the  cave. 

It  was  wonderful  within.  The  bowlder 
on  the  right  was  slick  and  black;  the  earth 
to  the  left  smooth  and  cool.  It  was  a  relief 
from  the  heat  without.  He  went  clear  to 
the  end  and  turned.  The  entrance  a  yard 
away  showed  blue  and  beautiful. 

He  decided  to  remain  a  while.  He 
flapped  his  tail,  and  in  the  narrow  confines 
the  water  swirled  about  him.  He  did  this 
again  and  again,  then  rested,  thinking  of 
the  triumph  he  should  achieve  on  his  return 


30  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

to  the  school.  There  should  be  a  major  rush 
to  the  cave  when  he  should  tell ;  but  nothing 
could  take  from  him  the  distinction  of  hav- 
ing been  first  to  enter  and  explore. 

His  tail  was  to  the  entrance  now,  but  he 
knew  when  the  small  opening  was  darkened. 
He  whirled  quickly,  sudden  unaccountable 
alarm  rushing  over  him. 

In  the  entrance  was  a  turtle;  a  small, 
ugly,  fiery-eyed  little  reptile  that  was  re- 
garding him  intently,  its  expression  made 
hideous  by  the  underthrust  of  its  lower  jaw. 

White  Belly  was  palpitant  with  terror. 
This  object  he  had  always  feared,  not  so 
much  because  he  had  learned  to  fear  it,  but 
because  he  was  born  afraid  of  it,  as  man  is 
of  a  snake.  His  small  bivalvular  heart 
throbbed  with  his  terror. 

The  turtle's  look  became  cunning.  Its 
beady  eyes  glowed  with  satisfaction.  It 
poised  itself  like  a  hand  placed  over  the 
entrance,  its  neck  thrust  forward,  its  short 
front  legs  keeping  it  in  position. 

With  a  violent  propulsive  movement  of 
his  tail  White  Belly  scudded  swiftly  for  a 
momentary  opening  between  the  reptile's 
head  and  left  fore  foot. 


'The  bass  was  terrified  at  sight  of  this  traditional  enemy." 


COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY     31 

But  quick  as  he  was  the  turtle  was  swifter. 
Its  toothless  beak  fell  like  a  hammer  and 
stopped  the  rush,  sending  the  little  bass 
shuddering  backward. 

The  shock  halted  him,  and  for  a  moment 
he  delayed ;  but  not  the  turtle.  It  was  quick 
to  seize  its  advantage,  and  paddled  cannily 
up  the  tunnel.  Like  a  pugilist  pressed  on 
before  he  recovers  from  a  blow,  White 
Belly  tried  desperately  to  recover  and  evade 
the  oncoming  foe.  He  hurried  the  two  feet 
to  the  end  of  the  channel  in  a  wild  blind 
effort;  turned  and  darted  swiftly  from  side 
to  side  as  if  to  unsettle  his  antagonist's  pur- 
pose. 

But  on  it  came.  A  swift-moving  leg 
seemed  unexpectedly  right  under  the  fish. 
A  sharp  black  claw  caught  at  the  left  gills 
and  tore  them.  A  blood  vessel  broke,  and 
the  water  carried  a  dark  stain. 

He  was  but  five  months  old.  The  average 
life  of  a  bass  is  eight  years  and  that  of  man 
forty.  So  comparatively  White  Belly  was 
the  age  of  a  two  and  a  half  year  old  child. 
He  was  no  match  in  cleverness  or  strength 
for  this  traditional  enemy. 

The  loss  of  blood  both  weakened  and 


32  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

terrified  him.  He  turned  partly  on  his  side, 
tried  desperately  to  right  himself  and  flee, 
but  could  not.  The  round  shape  became 
more  confident.  A  long  stringy  neck 
covered  with  dark  loose  skin  extended,  and 
on  it  the  horny  head.  The  mouth  opened, 
showing  red  and  toothless. 

It  closed  just  back  of  the  bass's  dorsal. 
He  made  a  last  struggle,  wriggling  as  one 
with  tail  held  stationary,  but  he  did  it  with- 
out hope. 

Outside  the  cave  the  sport  with  the  orange 
had  been  broken  up  by  another  and  more 
novel  diversion.  The  churning  of  the 
water  caused  by  the  sport  had  caught  the 
attention  of  one  with  the  picnicking  party 
who  had  brought  his  tackle  along. 

Something  more  wonderful  than  the 
orange  was  now  in  the  water  though  it  did 
not  float  as  the  orange  floated.  It  appeared 
to  be  a  little  fish  like  themselves,  only  it  fell 
on  the  water  far  out  and  then  swam  zigzag 
fashion  for  the  shore.  It  did  this  many 
times. 

All  the  little  bass  were  curious  about  this 
strange  sight;  but  Leaper  especially  was 
tantalized  beyond  endurance.  Especially  as 


COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY      33 

the  funny  little  minnow  raked  above  his 
head  and  started  for  the  shore,  did  he  feel 
an  irrepressible  urge  to  follow  it — like  a 
cat  that  simply  must  chase  the  vanishing 
ball. 

He  made  a  quick  strike;  but  as  most  of 
his  play  practice  had  been  with  stationary 
objects,  he  missed.  But  undismayed  he 
leaped  clear  of  the  water  and  rejoined  his 
comrades. 

Hump  Back,  so  called  because  while  the 
backs  of  the  others  arched  but  slightly  his 
was  pronouncedly  convex,  saw  Leaper's 
effort  and  himself  resolved  to  try. 

On  the  next  appearance  of  the  object  he 
struck.  His  aim  was  true,  but  his  subse- 
quent actions  were  peculiar.  Instead  of 
returning,  he  followed  his  strike  to  the  shore 
and  disappeared. 

An  interval  of  silence.  Then  a  disap- 
pointed voice  on  the  shore  which  the  fish 
did  not  hear  or  hearing  would  not  have 
understood,  spoke  its  irritation. 

"Darn!    Undersize!" 

"Coin'  to  throw  'im  back?"  another  voice 
queried. 

"Yes.    Not  worth  scalinV 


34  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

He  tore  the  hook  from  the  fragile  mouth, 
held  the  little  bass  up,  and  as  a  man  would 
strike  a  handball,  batted  him  back  into  the 
water. 

He  turned  over  and  over,  then  lay  gasp- 
ing. The  cartilage  of  his  mouth  was  torn, 
but  this  gave  him  no  pain.  The  pain  he 
felt  was  in  his  side.  Where  the  hand  had 
struck  him  the  scales  were  ruffled  and 
broken,  causing  dull  irritation.  The  water 
did  not  slip  from  him  here,  but  clung  to  his 
skin  and  fretted  him.  His  companions 
swam  nearer  and  looked  at  him  curiously, 
but  understood  not — save  one. 

The  next  day  the  pain  was  more  acute. 
The  reason  was  that  poison  in  the  water  had 
searched  out  the  wound  and  infected  it.  A 
red  abrasion  appeared,  the  scales  dropping 
away. 

Vainly  he  tried  to  escape.  He  swam 
against  small  stones  to  remove  it;  whipped 
his  small  tail  to  shake  it  off.  But  it  grew 
worse.  It  spread.  The  pain  and  the  hectic 
activity  wore  him  down. 

The  third  day  he  swam  nearer  and  nearer 
the  surface.  He  turned  belly  up,  and  at 
times  gulped  air  through  his  gills.  But  he 


COMEDY  AND  TRAGEDY      35 

was  conquered.  On  the  fourth  day  he  was 
still. 

Only  Sidie  had  understood  his  struggle, 
and  she  but  partly.  From  the  fourth  month 
she  had  not  been  well.  Something  within 
her  gave  way  then,  and  she  found  great 
difficulty  in  swimming  erect.  In  spite  of 
her  efforts  she  would  turn  partly  on  her 
side. 

None  knew  the  effort  she  made  to  over- 
come this.  But  when  she  saw  Hump  Back, 
her  own  malady  enabled  her  to  compre- 
hend something  of  his  struggles.  Near  him 
the  last  day  she  tried  to  learn  something  of 
his  mishap,  but  got  only  the  impression  that 
somewhere  on  the  shore  had  been  an  enemy 
more  terrible  than  all  others. 

It  was  then  that  the  spirit  which  broods 
over  the  waters  smiled  in  cynicism,  for  he 
knew  that  the  creature  which  among  men  is 
called  "highest"  may  be  the  greatest 
enemy  of  the  fish.  For  while  the  turtle  kills 
for  food,  this  "highest"  often  mangles  and 
kills  needlessly  and  through  his  own  irrita- 
tion. 

If  you  should  ever  visit  Lone  Pine  Lake, 
you  will  find  there  anglers  you  would  be 


36  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

glad  to  know.  But  a  grumbler  often  fishes 
there,  whose  plaint  is  the  growing  scarcity 
of  fish.  He  is  the  man  who  caused  the  death 
of  Hump  Back;  and  what  he  did  to  Hump 
Back  he  has  done  to  many  others. 


IV 


HE  development  of  Old  Black  Bass 
that  first  year  illustrates  the  law  that 
to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given  and 
from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  which  he  hath. 

By  some  queer  quirk  of  physical  heredity 
he  had  entered  into  the  inheritance  of  a 
body  destined  to  make  him  a  fish  among  ten 
thousand.  Already  his  proportions  were 
exceptional.  His  body  was  richly  dark 
with  the  glow  of  unimpaired  health.  The 
maxillary  of  his  large  mouth  swept  back 
well  behind  the  eye,  and  made  his  strike 
for  food  deadly  sure.  His  thick,  flat  back 
was  ribbed  with  nine  sharp  spines,  and  be- 

37 


38  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

hind  them  the  thirteen  rays  flared  in  a 
graceful  arch.  Ten  rows  of  glossy  scales 
were  on  his  cheek  and  sixty-eight  adown 
the  smooth  lateral  line  of  his  body.  When 
he  moved  through  the  water  it  was  with 
the  precision  of  a  highly  complex  but  won- 
derfully efficient  machine. 

True  he  was  awkward,  for  the  bass  is 
seldom  a  graceful  fish,  but  in  his  very  awk- 
wardness was  suggestion  of  smoldering 
strength,  like  the  awkward  but  sleeping 
muscularity  of  the  untamed  lumber- 
jack. 

And  having  this  body  through  inherit- 
ance, more  accrued  to  him  as  a  result  of  it. 
The  best  feeding  grounds  about  the  cove  he 
took  by  right  of  prowess.  While  the  others 
were  limited  in  their  range,  his  untiring 
energy  enabled  him  to  forage  farther  and 
longer  than  they,  and  therefore  fare  better. 
His  strike  at  swimming  luckless  frogs  was 
speedier  and  more  sure;  and  when  many 
made  for  the  same  morsel,  his  strength  let 
him  crowd  the  others  away  and  gobble  it 
down. 

Consequently,  he  seldom  went  hungry. 
While  the  youthful  appetites  of  the  others 


NATURAL  SELECTION        39 

often  were  unappeased,  his  maw  was  ever 
full.  He  grew  faster  than  they,  not  alone 
because  he  was  born  to  a  greater  size  but 
also  because  the  abundance  of  his  food 
added  new  tissue  to  his  frame. 

But,  as  so  often  happens  to  the  one  who 
finds  himself  able  to  overcome  all  obstacles 
and  triumph  over  his  kind,  his  very  suc- 
cesses proved  elements  in  his  failure.  By 
saving  his  life  he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  lose 
it 

Always  inclined  to  feel  superior,  he  be- 
came arrogant  with  his  victories.  He  grew 
domineering.  Imperiously  he  slashed  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  intolerant  of  their 
weakness  and  contemptuous  of  their  help- 
fulness to  each  other.  Yet  with  all  his  im- 
periousness  the  same  was  true  of  him  as  of 
men  with  similar  dispositions:  he  was  in- 
satiable in  his  desire  for  flattery  and  adula- 
tion. He  wanted  to  be  admired,  feared, 
praised,  deferred  to,  respected,  acclaimed. 

There  were  in  the  school  some  who  were 
willing  to  accord  him  all  these,  just  as 
among  men  there  are  always  kotowers  to 
the  supercilious.  But  others  were  less 
deferential.  Especially  Leaper.  Genial 


40  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

and  social,  a  good  loser  as  well  as  a  gener- 
ous victor,  he  embodied  that  fine  combina- 
tion of  ambition  and  sociality  so  admirable 
in  the  human  realm.  To  him  further  had 
been  vouchsafed  a  mild  and  subtle  sense  of 
humor  that  played  gayly  over  the  whole  of 
life. 

Old  Black  Bass  struck  violently  at  a  par- 
ticle fallen  into  the  water,  and  came  down 
shaking  from  his  jaws  the  empty  shell  of  a 
locust  blown  from  afar  on  the  wind.  His 
mortification  at  this  lack  of  judgment  was  so 
manifest  that  Leaper  could  not  refrain  from 
opening  and  closing  his  mouth  in  lugubrious 
imitation. 

A  ripple  of  amusement  passed  over  the 
school.  To  check  it  at  the  very  outset  Old 
Black  Bass  whirled  belligerently,  and  many 
subsided  quickly.  But  Leaper  knew  no 
fear.  With  another  dolorous  opening  and 
closing  of  his  mouth  he  held  his  place.  Con- 
flict was  imminent  when  Gloria  slipped  be- 
tween them  and  flashed  her  shapely  body 
through  the  air.  But  though  this  was  diver- 
sion, the  entire  school  sensed  that  here  was 
enmity  that  should  never  die. 

Old  Black  Bass  knew  then  that  in  the 


NATURAL  SELECTION        41 

school  might  be  found  here  and  there  an 
attitude  toward  him  not  of  admiration ;  and 
brooding  alone  that  evening  he  chewed  the 
cud  of  his  mortification  and  found  it  bitter. 
But,  like  many  of  his  type  among  the  higher 
vertebrates,  he  concluded  that  the  needed 
thing  was  a  more  complete  showing  of  his 
prowess,  and  so  bided  his  time. 

Then  a  change  came  over  nature,  slight 
at  first  but  more  apparent  with  the  hurrying 
days.  Out  on  the  shore  the  tamaracks  lost 
their  luscious  green  and  aged ;  leaves  of  the 
birch  fell  and  skimmed  like  frail  canoes 
over  the  water ;  oak  leaves  turned  brown  and 
rattled  in  the  biting  wind. 

It  was  the  approach  of  winter.  Notice- 
able first  in  the  lake  was  the  absence  of  food. 
No  longer  did  the  breeze  come  freighted 
with  its  burden  of  insects.  Gnats  ceased  to 
fall.  Only  little  frogs,  green  and  tender, 
hung  in  the  water's  edge.  In  the  shallows 
it  was  cold. 

One  day  Old  Black  Bass  was  nosing  close 
in  when  a  tiny  snake  descried  him  and 
wriggled  frantically  for  the  shore.  But  the 
rush  of  the  carnivore  was  too  swift. 
Knotted  into  a  ball  the  little  reptile  felt  the 


42  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

crunch  of  sharp  teeth  and  slid  down 
through  warm  darkness. 

Water  grew  colder.  But  the  fish  were 
not  dismayed.  For  with  a  knowledge  that 
came  to  them  from  out  the  far  past  they 
knew  that  this  was  in  the  order  of  nature. 
Just  as  geese  honk  wedge-shaped  to  the 
South  with  changing  wind,  so  the  bass 
moved  toward  the  deep. 

Gregarious  they  were,  as  is  the  prairie 
dog  or  the  beaver;  and  this  instinct  kept 
the  school  together.  Far  out  in  the  water 
was  a  break  in  the  wide  wall  of  a  great  stone 
fence,  and  here  they  made  their  winter 
quarters. 

Then  began  an  ordeal  of  endurance 
which  nature  must  have  considered  her 
Great  Eliminator.  Just  as  with  men  civil 
service  examinations  are  held  to  weed  out 
the  less  capable  and  select  the  most  efficient 
for  placement,  so  nature  would  use  winter 
on  the  school  of  bass  to  eliminate  the  weak 
and  select  those  of  greatest  hardihood  to 
perpetuate  the  species. 

Sidie  was  the  first  to  go.  The  ailment 
which  had  not  been  severe  enough  to  elimi- 
nate her  when  the  water  was  warm  and  the 


NATURAL  SELECTION        43 

food  plentiful,  soon  put  her  out  of  the  race 
in  this  new  environment.  And  closely  fol- 
lowing her  went  five  more.  Even  Leaper 
felt  the  pinch  of  the  first  month. 

But  not  Old  Black  Bass.  His  solitary  dis- 
position often  sent  him  to  forage  alone.  His 
strength,  furthermore,  enabled  him  to  go 
farther  than  the  others,  enlarging  the  di- 
ameter of  his  feeding-ground. 

On  a  day  he  made  a  discovery.  Follow- 
ing a  stone  fence  in  search  of  food,  he  saw 
in  a  cranny  a  small  sunfish.  A  voice  from 
within  told  him  he  should  be  but  mildly 
interested  here,  but  the  hunger  urge  silenced 
the  voice. 

He  bore  down.  The  little  fish  should 
have  slipped  farther  back  into  the  protec- 
tion of  the  stones,  but  its  fear  blurred  its 
instinct.  It  darted  out  and  circled,  trust- 
ing to  its  swiftness.  But  with  mouth  open 
and  sharp  teeth  bare,  the  carnivore  con- 
quered. The  sharp  spines  of  the  little  fish 
caused  a  stabbing  pain  in  his  stomach,  but 
the  comforting  bulk  meant  more.  He  swam 
back  to  his  companions  with  unruffled  com- 
placence. 

Leaper  and  Gloria  were  together,  and  the 


44  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

sight  angered  him.  He  rushed  Leaper  and 
by  superior  strength  drove  him  away. 
Then  he  returned  to  Gloria  and  she  slipped 
up  to  him,  extending  her  mouth  till  it 
touched  his  side.  He  hung  in  contentment, 
fanning  the  water  with  pectoral  and  pelvic 
fins. 

The  black  bass  can  accommodate  himself 
to  a  wide  range  of  water  variation.  He 
will  live  with  ice  above  him,  and  thrive 
when  the  temperature  of  his  medium  is  100 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  So  now:  It  was  not 
the  water  so  much  that  troubled  the  school ; 
it  was  hunger. 

Hunger  broods  irritation ;  irritation,  con- 
flict. If  Swarthy  had  been  a  human,  he 
would  have  aspired  to  be  a  gunman;  and 
doubtless  Fusser  would  have  enriched  the 
ranks  of  the  reformers.  For  while  Swarthy 
was  sullen  and  direct  in  his  disposition  and 
method,  Fusser  was  forever  trying  to  ar- 
range things.  Her  advice  as  to  foraging  was 
copious  and  inaccurate;  her  "I-told-you- 
so's"  were  ceaseless. 

In  the  hunger  and  confinement  this 
ubiquitous  meddling  infuriated  Swarthy. 
A  few  weeks  back  he  had  been  either  too 


NATURAL  SELECTION        45 

busy  to  notice  it,  or  too  satisfied  to  take  it 
seriously.  But  now  everything  was  magni- 
fied. Differences  became  mountainous; 
idiosyncrasies,  insulting. 

The  school  was  moving  slowly  and  aim- 
lessly along  the  fence,  the  stones  already 
bare  and  slick  with  the  fanning  of  innumer- 
able fins,  when  Fusser  began  her  customary 
interference.  Food,  she  declared,  might  be 
found  if  they  looked  more  carefully;  swim- 
ming slower  would  be  much  less  tiring;  the 
other  side  of  the  fence,  as  being  toward  the 
south,  doubtless  was  much  better.  It  was 
then  that  Swarthy  broke. 

He  rushed  Fusser  and  gave  her  a  sharp 
stab  in  the  side.  Surprised  and  indignant, 
she  would  have  maneuvered  for  an  argu- 
ment, but  he  wanted  none.  He  rushed  her 
again,  viciously.  Her  method  would  have 
been  to  enlist  group  aid  to  curb  individual 
depredations,  but  Swarthy  was  for  direct 
action.  He  stabbed  her  with  his  spines. 

She  sped  here  and  there  like  a  woman 
throwing  up  her  hands  in  holy  indignation 
and  demanding  that  the  social  conscience 
awake.  But,  to  her  utter  amazement,  she 
found  the  very  ones  for  whom  she  had  done 


46  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

so  much  strangely  unmoved.  Swarthy 
kept  after  her.  Finally  she  turned  on  him, 
as  from  time  immemorial  the  pacifist  has 
turned  when  cornered,  and  turning,  gave 
Swarthy  a  taste  of  his  own  medicine. 

It  was  an  hour  later  that  the  struggle 
ended ;  but  when  it  was  over,  both  Swarthy 
and  Fusser  floated  lifeless  on  the  surface. 
For  fish  are  no  wiser  than  men :  when  nature 
would  allow  them  to  live  they  often  elimi- 
nate themselves. 

Old  Black  Bass  did  not  witness  the  con- 
flict. He  was  following  a  secret  search  for 
the  distant  sunfish.  Since  discovering  the 
first  one,  he  had  returned  again  and  again, 
and  always  with  success.  And  the  ease  with 
which  he  procured  food  deepened  his  con- 
tempt for  the  others. 

But  great  pride  usually  comes  just  before 
a  fall.  And  so  now.  In  the  very  midst  of 
his  own  foraging  grounds  Old  Black  Bass 
saw  a  stranger  loitering ;  and  seeing  him  was 
on  the  instant  furiously  angry.  He  tore  vi- 
ciously forward,  bent  on  utter  destruction. 

The  stranger  was  one  of  his  own  kind,  a 
great  black  bass  of  five  summers,  confident 
and  strong.  On  scales  he  would  have 


NATURAL  SELECTION        47 

weighed  a  pound  for  every  year  of  his 
age. 

All  fish  are  nearsighted,  due  to  the  con- 
vexity of  the  lense  of  the  eye ;  so  Old  Black 
Bass  was  almost  upon  the  intruder  before  he 
got  his  measure.  Even  then  he  kept  on,  so 
accustomed  had  he  become  to  undisputed 
dominance. 

But  the  stranger  was  unafraid.  Non- 
chalantly he  turned,  and  with  his  thick  mus- 
cular shoulder  took  the  full  blow.  Like  the 
pugilist  who,  to  show  his  own  invincibility 
and  the  other's  weakness,  turns  his  unpro- 
tected face  full  to  his  opponent.  The  blow 
shook  the  big  bass  not  at  all.  He  merely 
squared  himself  indolently  to  observe  his 
attacker.  For  a  moment  they  poised  observ- 
ant. The  older  fish  was  gorged  with  food, 
else,  large  as  he  was,  Old  Black  Bass  would 
have  been  grist  for  a  voracious  mill. 

Then  the  big  bass  suppressed  what  would 
have  amounted  to  a  twinkle  in  his  eye.  He 
simulated  a  towering  rage  before  which  Old 
Black  Bass  shrank  back.  A  churning  of 
water,  and  he  felt  himself  knocked  into  the 
air.  He  fell  back,  only  to  find  his  enemy 
waiting.  He  was  as  a  cat  playing  with  a 


48  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

mouse.  He  circled  the  smaller  fish ;  rushed 
at  him  open-mouthed,  only  to  stop  short; 
flapped  him  with  his  tail  and  turned  him 
over.  With  a  final  dash  he  struck  mid-side 
and  sent  him  careening.  Then,  boredly,  he 
turned  and  continued  along  the  fence. 

Old  Black  Bass  cast  an  affrighted  glance 
after  him,  then  made  to  return  to  his  school, 
only  to  find  that  in  his  efforts  to  escape  he 
had  drawn  very  near  to  it.  A  scant  yard 
away  Leaper  and  Gloria  hugged  a  sharp 
rock.  They  had  been  frightened  observers 
of  the  struggle. 

Knowledge  that  they  had  seen  all  occa- 
sioned the  most  bitter  moment  of  Old  Black 
Bass's  life.  A  poor  loser  by  disposition,  he 
recked  not  that  either  Gloria  or  Leaper 
would  have  fared  worse  in  the  encounter 
than  he.  To  him  was  only  the  bitter  realiza- 
tion that  they  had  witnessed  his  discom- 
fiture. When  Gloria  advanced  gracefully 
to  meet  him,  and  even  Leaper  swam  gener- 
ously over,  he  wheeled  moodily  and  dis- 
appeared. 

That  evening  he  was  viciously  irritable. 
For  a  fancied  insult  he  struck  in  succession 
two  of  his  companions,  and  with  such  force 


NATURAL  SELECTION        49 

as  to  burst  their  air  bladders.  They  wab- 
bled queerly,  then  flopped  over  and  died. 

Rebellion  began  to  brew.  Black  looks  fol- 
lowed his  movements,  and  groups  of  three 
and  four  knotted  together  here  and  there  as 
if  in  consultation.  But  to  each  and  all  his 
bearing  was  a  bold  challenge  of  force. 
Alone  of  all  the  school  Gloria  seemed  to 
fear  him  not  at  all.  Indeed,  it  was  as  though 
his  unconquerable  temper  drew  from  her 
an  attitude  of  submission,  a  submission  born 
not  of  fear  but  of  admiration.  As  on  an- 
other occasion,  so  now  she  swam  up  to  him 
and  touched  his  side  lightly,  her  body 
squaring  gracefully  with  his. 

Then  came  real  winter.  Snow  flurried  to 
the  black  water.  Waves  were  lashed  by  a 
wind  that  whistled  fiercely  among  the  bare 
trees.  The  fish  grew  comatose.  Their 
bodies  chilled,  energy  seemed  to  vanish, 
and  they  lay  close  down  as  in  a  stupor. 

Two  months  they  remained  thus,  feed- 
ing as  though  from  within.  Then  great 
cosmic  voices  whispered  to  the  world  that 
spring  was  approaching.  Unseen  forces 
broke  the  bonds  of  winter  and  liberated  the 
waters. 


50  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

The  fish  awoke.  Instincts  formed  in  the 
far  racial  past  informed  them  of  the  change, 
and  whispered  to  them  of  adulthood.  They 
quickened.  A  smaller  school  because  of  the 
selections  of  nature,  they  yet  were  a  fitter 
because  only  the  hardy  had  survived.  They 
leaped  to  the  call  of  spring. 


V 


VEN  as  in  springtime  newly  bare- 
foot children  run  round  and  round 
the  house  in  abandon  of  exhilara- 
tion, so  the  school  of  fish  felt  their  spirits 
lift  in  unaccountable  urge  to  frolic. 

April  clouds  dropped  their  warm  showers 
on  the  water  and  the  fish  watched  the  funny 
disturbance  and  grew  both  excited  and  irre- 
pressibly  playful.  Their  leapings  added  to 
the  excitement;  their  rushing  churned  the 
water  more  than  the  rain. 

In  very  excess  of  exuberance  a  race  was 
staged,  not  deliberately,  for  fish  do  not  de- 
liberate, but  spontaneously  and  reflexly, 


52  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

caused  by  the  quick  darting  away  of  the 
supple  Swift. 

Swift  led  at  the  start,  slipping  through 
the  soft  water  like  an  arrow  shot  through 
the  air.  Spot  saw  her  go  and  leaped  in 
pursuit  like  the  bounding  bounce  of  a  rab- 
bit. Clumsy  and  Red-eye,  Old  Black  Bass, 
Leaper  and  Gloria,  Wall-eye  and  Gap — the 
school  was  a  fleeting  shadow. 

Rocks  flashed  by,  a  broken  birch  was 
skirted  so  swiftly  that  the  rearward  ones 
scarce  knew  the  cause  of  the  swerving ;  and 
leading  the  way  was  Swift. 

Swift  of  the  flying  waters,  pectoral  and 
ventral  flat  against  her  body,  anal  and  rays 
of  dorsal  flared  into  a  rudder,  body  whip- 
ping and  straightening  too  rapidly  for  the 
eye!  The  wide  caudal  fin,  like  the  leaves  of 
a  propeller,  caught  the  water  and  flinging 
it  back  increased  the  velocity. 

She  was  enjoying  it.  Cool,  energizing 
water  touched  her  sides  after  the  comatose 
winter  and  washed  her  clean.  Impurities 
slipped  away  as  carbon  is  blown  from  a 
valve. 

But  close  behind  was  Leaper,  body  a  fly- 
ing arrow.  Like  a  wing-footed  racer  put- 


EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY      53 

ting  himself  on  the  stretch,  he  flung  for- 
ward in  hot  pursuit.  It  was  their  race. 
The  others  fell  back,  unable  to  keep  the 
pace. 

Leaper  gained.  Everything  he  had  he 
used.  And  he  gained  another  inch.  His 
head  was  at  Swift's  tail  and  creeping  slowly 
to  her  pectoral.  Intoxication  of  achieve- 
ment gave  him  added  energy.  With  great 
surge  he  flung  forward.  He  would  winl 

But  have  you  ever  seen  Collie  race  with 
Greyhound?  Then  you  know  how  Collie 
flattens  out,  tearing  along,  ears  laid  back. 
You  know  how  she  gains  and  creeps  up.  But 
you  know  more:  the  apparent  ease  with 
which  the  long  lean  body  of  the  hound 
flexes,  and  the  incredible  speed  that  fol- 
lows! 

So  it  was  with  Swift.  When  Leaper 
nosed  her  pectoral,  without  apparent  greater 
effort  on  her  part  she  slipped  away  and 
left  him.  Then  stopped  an*l  waited,  twin- 
kling, to  let  him  come  along. 

The  others  overtook  them  finally,  Old 
Black  Bass  feigning  preoccupation  to 
belittle  Swift's  and  Leaper's  achievement 
and  minimize  his  own  defeat.  He  dis- 


54  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

played  no  amazement  or  excitement  as  did 
the  others,  but  fretted  impatiently  to  be  on. 

Straight  ahead  was  a  place  of  witchery 
for  the  bass.  It  was  the  kind  of  a  spot  to 
which  their  natures  cried  out  a  welcome, 
even  as  the  human  soul  cries  its  welcome  to 
spring;  though  why  the  bass  loved  a  place 
like  this  they  could  not  have  told. 

It  was  an  area  of  forming  lily-pads,  of 
incipient  green;  an  acre  of  bottom  unlike 
the  rocky  ledges,  but  coming  luscious  and 
rich.  It  was  as  yet  too  early  for  the  full- 
formed  pads  and  much  of  the  food.  But 
even  so  they  recognized  it  as  a  place  of  inter- 
est and  attraction,  though  they  had  never 
been  there  before.  It  was  the  Voice;  the 
old  Paleozoic  Voice  that  first  called  to  the 
fishes  back  in  the  dim  age  when  vertebrates 
arose. 

In  response  to  this  voice  the  fish  live  and 
move  and  have  their  being.  It  is  instinct. 
It  is  the  call  of  food,  of  sex,  of  gregarious- 
ness,  of  sociality.  Those  without  it  perish, 
those  having  it  obey.  It  called  now  to  the 
feeding-ground. 

The  spot  was  occupied,  for  the  day  was 
perfect  for  the  fisherman.  It  was  morning, 


EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY    55 

but  the  sun  was  hidden ;  it  was  warm,  but  a 
slight  breeze  made  a  dancing  riffle. 

Scarce  had  the  school  entered  the  beguil- 
ing region  when  a  gay  lure  struck  the  water 
before  them.  It  lay  motionless  for  a  mo- 
ment, then  began  a  whirling  course  through 
the  water.  It  lifted,  darted  sidewise, 
dipped;  it  slackened  speed,  only  to  dart 
away. 

Gap  saw  the  thing,  and  he  was  hungry. 
What  with  the  lean  feeding  days  just  passed 
and  the  race,  the  white  fiber  of  his  stomach 
was  but  a  contracted  pouch.  And  here  was 
food,  enough  to  last  long. 

He  rose  to  it.  But  whether  from  sudden 
aversion  to  his  kind,  or  from  inexplicable 
love  of  shore,  he  closed  on  the  lure  and  fol- 
lowed it  to  land. 

An  interval  and  the  plug  came  back.  It 
was  Leaper's  turn.  Not  that  he  was  so 
hungry;  for  three  delicious  hellgramites 
had  been  his  luck  the  day  before.  But  he 
was  curious.  He  wanted  to  know  what  this 
thing  felt  like,  acted  like,  tasted  like. 

His  tail  swirled  as  he  struck  it  and  missed. 
He  struck  again,  determined  to  satisfy  him- 
self. He  connected  with  the  front  of  it  with 


56  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

his  superior  maxillary,  knocking  the  lure 
clear  out  of  the  water. 

He  was  measurably  satisfied.  It  was 
smooth  and  hard,  whatever  it  was :  the  bump 
he  had  given  it  shook  his  head.  He  re- 
turned happily  to  the  others  and  inter- 
estedly waited. 

Grinnie  had  preferred  to  watch  rather 
than  participate.  Even  when  the  thing 
spatted  the  water  above  her  she  remained 
fairly  calm.  But  when  it  began  to  depart, 
something  within  utterly  uncontrollable 
urged  pursuit.  She  simply  could  not  let  it 
get  away.  She  followed,  propelled  by  the 
same  instinct  of  movement  that  drives  the 
cat  after  the  vanishing  ball.  But  she  must 
have  gone  too  far,  for  she  never  returned. 

Old  Black  Bass  had  been  a  surly  spec- 
tator. He  hungered  not,  neither  did  the 
lure  fascinate  him.  He  did  feel  a  vast  con- 
tempt for  Leaper  when  he  missed.  But  he 
remained  aloof,  simply  watching. 

Time  after  time  the  lure  raked  the  water. 
And  finally  it  got  on  Old  Black  Bass's 
nerves.  For  what  reason  should  this  red 
and  white  intruder  continue  to  frolic  above 
him?  And  since  when  was  it  considered 


EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY    57 

safe  to  so  disturb  him  with  impunity? 
Clearly  this  little  whippersnapper  needed 
the  same  lesson  the  others  had  so  thoroughly 
learned. 

His  anger  mounted.  He  lifted  slightly, 
determined  to  show  it  and  all  the  others. 
When  he  struck  he  lunged  savagely,  open- 
ing and  closing  his  mouth  once,  twice,  with 
a  queer  "chugging"  sound.  Only  the  inex- 
pertness  of  the  angler  saved  Old  Black  Bass, 
for  he  was  reeling  the  lure  too  swiftly,  re- 
solved to  change  it  for  another ;  and  the  fish 
was  not  hooked. 

In  vain  did  he  cast  again  and  again.  Old 
Black  Bass's  anger  had  disquieted  the 
school,  and,  refusing  to  rise  again,  they 
went  on  down  the  lake  in  search  of  a  quieter 
spot. 

Of  course  the  fish  did  not  know  it,  but 
they  had  here  given  the  only  true  answer  to 
the  question  asked  about  so  many  camp  fires 
of  evenings:  "Why  does  a  bass  strike  an 
artificial  lure?"  And  they  had  answered  it 
by  the  motive  which  had  impelled  each  to 
strike. 

The  mind  of  man  is  obsessed  by  a  desire 
to  reduce  everything  to  one  simple  formula. 


58  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

He  wants  one  law  for  each  class  of  phe- 
nomena: for  gravitation,  for  motive,  for 
worship,  one  principle  for  all  true  govern- 
ment. And  he  has  sought  for  one  motive  to 
explain  every  fish's  strike. 

He  will  never  find  it.  One  fish  differs 
from  another  as  one  dog  from  another  or 
one  boy  differs  from  another  boy.  The  first 
boy  throws  a  stone  through  the  grocery- 
man's  window  because  he  is  mad  at  the 
storekeeper;  the  second  does  the  same  thing 
because  he  is  curious  about  the  result;  the 
third  because  he  is  hungry  and  wants  the 
cookies  behind  the  glass;  and  the  fourth 
merely  because  he  wants  to  throw  and  surg- 
ing nature  is  prompting  him. 

So  do  fish  strike.  One  is  curious,  one 
hungry,  one  instinctive  in  chasing  a  moving 
object,  one  is  angry.  No  explanation  that 
overlooks  individual  differences  to  seek  a 
common  motive  will  ever  be  accurate.  To 
explain  a  strike  is  to  know  the  nature  of  the 
one  fish  concerned. 

As  the  school  continued  on  its  way  Old 
Black  Bass  alone  retained  his  mood.  He 
brooded  over  the  lure.  Not  so  much  be- 
cause he  missed  it,  for  he  had  struck  only 


EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY    59 

to  buffet.  His  brooding  took  him  almost 
to  the  realm  of  abstract  thought.  For  just 
as  in  the  human  realm  a  Shakespeare  is 
born  who  knows  more  of  English  than  the 
average  man,  or  an  Edison  of  electricity,  or 
a  Faraday  of  physics  in  general,  so  Old 
Black  Bass  was  a  genius  of  his  species  and 
as  such  capable  of  more  than  they. 

He  came  near  to  fathoming  the  secret  of 
the  artificial  lure.  Gap  and  Grinnie,  who 
had  not  come  back,  were  forgotten  incidents 
with  the  others.  But  to  Old  Black  Bass 
they  gave  point  to  an  awful  lesson.  A  craw- 
fish is  capable  of  learning  in  forty  lessons 
which  is  the  best  way  to  reach  food;  but 
Old  Black  Bass  was  already  learning  that 
not  all  that  cavorts  on  the  water  is  safe  for 
food. 

From  that  day  onward  he  discriminated 
his  food.  Before  taking  it  he  demanded  of 
himself  absolute  knowledge  of  its  nature. 
Was  it  alive,  or  only  cleverly  artificial? 
Was  a  slender  line  connected  to  it,  or  did  it 
swim  free? 

And  this  canniness  put  him  in  the  class  of 
rare  bass  of  which  the  true  angler  dreams : 
the  subtly  clever  fish  who  are  wise  beyond 


60  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

their  kind,  and  whose  wisdom  rouses  the 
true  fisherman  as  a  rare  species  lures  the 
hunter. 

And  while  Old  Black  Bass  did  not 
know  the  ways  of  men  in  the  great  outside 
world,  there  was  such  a  fisherman  who 
should  one  day  visit  Lone  Pine ;  and  during 
that  visit  the  wise  bass  and  the  clever  angler 
should  meet  and  contend. 

It  was  the  day  following  that  he  did  an- 
other of  the  despicable  things  that  had 
earned  for  him  the  hatred  of  the  entire 
school.  A  stone  from  an  old  fence  slid 
quickly  down  and  pinned  Red-eye  by  the 
tail.  Gloria  hurried  quickly  to  him  to  help, 
just  as  one  ram  will  patiently  endeavor  to 
remove  the  thorn  from  the  head  of  another. 

And  she  was  succeeding.  Red-eye  was  in 
a  panic  and  struggling  violently  while 
Gloria  nosed  blindly  at  the  stone.  It  gave, 
and  the  impinioned  tail  slipped  a  fraction. 

Then  Old  Black  Bass  did  an  atrocious 
thing.  Why  he  did  it,  who  knows?  Per- 
haps in  a  dim  way  he  was  angered  at  him- 
self that  he  also  had  not  been  quick  to  aid ; 
but  not  having  proffered  such  aid,  perhaps 
wanted  to  show  that  another  kind  of  action 


EMERGENCE  OF  A  BULLY    61 

was  preferable.  He  struck  the  helpless 
Red-eye.  It  was  the  act  of  a  bully  striking 
a  bound  man.  Red-eye  was  stunned.  He 
tried  to  free  himself;  but  head  up  in  his 
efforts,  was  struck  again  and  killed. 

Leaper  swam  over  and  nosed  his  dead 
comrade;  then  turned  and  surveyed  Old 
Black  Bass  with  loathing,  and  the  loathing 
he  felt  was  in  the  hearts  of  all.  Old  Black 
Bass  from  that  hour  became  a  stranger 
though  present.  He  was  hated  and  shunned 
— but  feared. 


VI 


N  this  tale  we  must  distinguish  be- 
tween a  language  and  a  vocabulary. 
A  phonetic  vocabulary  is  possible 
only  to  man,  for  he  alone  possesses  the 
physiological  mechanism  to  use  it.  The 
parrot  is  excluded,  for  its  vocabulary  is  to 
speech  what  a  picture  is  to  reality. 

Consequently,  fish  have  no  vocabulary; 
but  they  have  a  language.  They  talk  just  as 
the  crow  talks  when  it  sends  a  warning,  or 
the  dog  when  it  is  hot  on  the  scent. 

We  must  distinguish  also  between  the 

mental  state  and  the  expression  of  such  a 

state.   The  deaf  mute  may  be  angry,  though 

he  possess  no  vocabulary  with  which  to  up- 

62 


THE  DESPOILERS  63 

braid ;  may  love,  without  being  able  to  speak 
of  it  in  words. 

So  fish  may  know  without  giving  voice 
to  the  knowledge,  or  feel  without  vocal  ac- 
companiment. Since,  however,  this  is  the 
story  of  a  fish  designed  for  men  to  read,  the 
mental  and  emotional  states  of  the  fish  may 
be  given  their  corresponding  human  word 
signs,  so  that  all  who  read  may  understand. 

It  is  significant,  therefore,  that  the  central 
figure  of  this  story  was  early  given  the  name 
of  Old  Black  Bass.  In  the  human  realm 
are  boys  old  and  mature  beyond  their  years, 
lacking  the  playful  spirit  and  looking  at  life 
through  disillusioned  eyes.  These  oldish 
boys  are  usually  addressed  as  "Old  Bill"  or 
"Old  Tom"  or  "Old  Dave,"  the  significance 
being  that  they  are  adult  and  oldish  in  their 
attitudes. 

Old  Black  Bass  was  so  named  because  he 
was  old  in  spirit,  critical,  lacking  the  play- 
ful attitude,  fiercely  belligerent  when  others 
were  playfully  sportive.  He  discouraged 
friendliness,  scoffed  at  young  helpfulness, 
hurt  cruelly,  killed  without  mercy. 

Men  have  two  kinds  of  names,  the  Chris- 
tian name  given  to  the  young  child,  which  is 


64  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

a  sort  of  formal  appellation  for  social  con- 
venience; and  the  nickname,  a  spontaneous 
description  of  the  impression  one  is  making 
on  his  fellows.  Thus  his  mother  calls  him 
Jacob,  but  to  his  fellow  twelve-year-olds 
he  is  Fatty;  the  family  Bible  records  him  as 
Samuel,  but  to  his  playmates  he  is  Red. 

Fish  have  no  formal  names,  but  all  are 
nicknamed.  One  is  Gloria  because  of  the 
soft  sweetness  of  her  disposition,  or  Spot 
because  of  a  queer  mark  on  the  cheek,  or 
Gap  on  account  of  a  funny  gasping  way  he 
had  of  breathing.  So  it  was  Old  Black 
Bass  because  he  was  adult  in  his  reactions 
and  sour  in  disposition. 

The  school  took  advice  from  him,  but 
were  intimate  not  at  all;  respected  his 
strength  as  fearing  his  anger;  curbed  the 
growing  hatred  toward  him  only  as  though 
biding  a  better  time. 

In  May  came  the  mating  urge.  Just  as 
spring  draws  the  green  leaf  from  dark  twig, 
or  morning  the  sunflower's  heart  to  East,  so 
the  warming  waters  brought  to  life  the 
mating  impulse.  On  its  coming  Leaper  and 
Gloria  swam  gayly  away.  Clumsy  and 
Wall-eye,  Spot  and  Wriggle,  Darter  and 


THE  DESPOILERS  65 

Sober,  after  a  day  of  strange  restlessness, 
followed  them. 

Some  of  the  school  remained  unmoved 
by  the  pervasive  call;  for  some  bass  spawn 
not  till  the  second  year.  These  looked  upon 
the  restlessness  of  their  fellows  and  compre- 
hended it  not. 

Old  Black  Bass  had  preened  in  his  awk- 
ward way  for  the  eye  of  Gloria,  while  Swift 
more  than  once  nosed  Leaper  and  frisked 
for  shoreward  waters.  But  he  followed  not, 
nor  did  Gloria  have  eye  for  Old  Black  Bass. 
When  she  swam  off  with  Leaper,  Old  Black 
Bass  went  rapidly  to  Swift  and  with  her 
went  away. 

Back  and  to  over  the  yard-wide  bed  went 
Swift  and  her  companion,  fanning  clean 
the  stones.  With  his  sturdy  nose  Old  Black 
Bass  moved  to  one  side  the  stones  too  large 
for  the  bed.  The  work  was  tedious  and 
tiring,  yet  it  was  accomplished  without 
injury  to  either.  While  the  trout  usually 
wears  caudal  fin  and  tail  to  the  bone  in  mak- 
ing its  nest,  the  bass  accomplishes  the  same 
task  without  blood. 

The  eggs  were  deposited  on  the  stones, 
ten  thousand  in  number.  Old  Black  Bass 


66  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

fertilized  them  as  they  stuck  there ;  and  the 
vigil  of  watchfulness  began.  On  the  third 
day  as  Swift  hung  above  the  nest  an  ancient 
enemy  made  quick  attack. 

A  fish  hawk,  foe  of  the  bass,  from  his 
perch  on  an  oak,  saw  the  dark  back  moving 
ceaselessly  under  the  water.  He  waited, 
tense  for  the  swoop.  Dark  back  rose  nearer 
surface,  and  the  hawk  dropped. 

A  clean  kill  was  prevented  only  by  Old 
Black  Bass.  He  was  faithful  here  because 
nature  held  him  up.  Scarce  had  he  rushed 
Swift  aside  when  there  was  quick  spat  above 
where  she  had  been.  But  the  disappointed 
hawk  lifted  and  flapped  away  with  empty 
talons.  Just  settled  were  they  when  a  lively 
hellgramite  fell  on  the  water  and  sank  to 
the  bed.  Swift  eyed  it  angrily,  but  ap- 
proached it  not.  It  was  dragged  clumsily 
over  the  stones,  while  she  circled  above  it, 
extremely  annoyed.  Then  it  slipped  shore- 
ward. 

An  angler  was  out  there,  casting  his  lures. 
An  out-of-season  fisherman,  for  the  law  was 
on  bass.  But  while  many  men  strive  to 
protect  the  fish,  a  few  also  break  laws  to 
catch  them. 


"A  fish  hawk,  ancient  foe  of  the  bass,  swooped  down." 


THE  DESPOILERS  67 

The  hellgramite  came  back.  Swift  flew 
at  it,  and  retaining  it  by  a  sucking  move- 
ment of  the  mouth  bore  it  away  and  spat  it 
far.  Again  it  reappeared,  only  to  be  as 
speedily  removed. 

Then  came  a  frog,  a  striped  pickerel  frog 
of  alluring  color.  It  floated  and  kicked  on 
the  surface  for  full  three  minutes,  then  sank 
slowly  down.  It  dropped  to  the  nest  and 
struggled  there.  The  movements  stirred 
hot  anger  and  resentment  in  Swift,  for  they 
were  displacing  her  eggs. 

Again  she  darted  down.  She  got  the  frog 
and  was  bearing  it  away  when  a  strange 
thing  happened.  The  amphibian  was 
cleverly  fastened  to  an  ingenious  spring 
hook,  which  suddenly  snapped  apart  and 
caught  in  her  mouth.  With  the  spring,  the 
line  tightened.  The  bass  was  jerked  over 
backward,  but  rushed  wildly  while  being 
reeled  in.  On  the  shore  the  angler  took  her 
from  the  hook  and  slipped  her  in  a  pocket 
of  his  hunting  coat.  Chuckling  to  himself, 
he  moved  on  up  the  lake. 

The  nest  Swift  left  behind  would  thence- 
forth remain  unguarded ;  and  this  meant  the 
death  of  the  life  she  had  placed  there.  She 


68  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

had  laid  ten  thousand  eggs,  and  with  her  go- 
ing went  the  hope  that  any  from  her  spawn 
should  live.  Pickerel  found  the  nest  and 
fed  upon  the  eggs;  turtles  crawled  over  it 
and  broke  them;  dirt  drifted  over  the  stones 
and  covered  them  up. 

But  the  fisherman  was  clever.  Nine  bass 
he  caught  that  day,  and  five  of  them  were 
from  the  nest,  caught  with  the  clever  spring 
hook.  One  of  the  five  was  guarding  seventy- 
five  thousand  eggs,  and  the  other  four  a  total 
of  thirty-seven  thousand.  All  told,  he  took 
the  protection  from  one  hundred  and  twelve 
thousand  possible  bass:  one  hundred  and 
twelve  thousand  possible  stock  for  the 
waters  of  the  future — impoverishing  the 
lake  for  the  fisherman  who  should  come 
after  him — making  obedience  to  law  a 
handicap — contributing  to  the  death  of  a 
species  at  its  source. 

On  his  way  home  this  man  met  the  angler 
who  the  spring  before  had  caused  the  death 
of  Hump  Back  by  roughly  batting  the  un- 
offending little  fish  into  the  water,  angered 
that  it  was  undersize. 

"No  luck,  I  bet,"  he  growled.  "Ain't 
no  fish  any  more." 


THE  DESPOILERS  69 

"Rotten  luck,"  the  former  agreed.    "Only 


nine." 


"Fishin'  ain't  what  it  used  to  be.  Onct  I 
could  go  out  and  git  a  mess  in  an  hour." 

"Couldn't  we,  though?"  the  first  agreed. 
"But  them  times  ain't  any  more." 

"I'll  say  they  ain't!" 

"Makes  me  tired." 

"Me  too." 

"Too  danged  much  fishinV' 

"And  pollutin'  the  water." 

"City  fellers!" 

"Dudes!" 

It  was  on  the  departure  of  Swift  that  Old 
Black  Bass  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  felt 
a  sense  of  incompleteness  that  made  him 
vaguely  sorrowful.  He  knew  the  cause  of 
her  departure :  he  had  seen  the  line  running 
shoreward  from  the  frog.  But  it  was  not 
so  much  sorrow  for  her  that  he  felt  as  it  was 
some  obscure  troubling  of  his  nature  due 
to  this  new  and  sudden  isolation. 

It  was  his  first  experience  of  the  need  of 
another.  From  out  the  depths  his  nature 
questioned  him  and  revealed  a  haunting 
desire.  New  and  vague,  it  yet  disclosed 
that  within  him  which,  if  called  out,  might 


70  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

make  him  over  from  the  surly,  morose  na- 
ture to  a  disposition  truly  social  and 
altruistic. 

For  a  day  he  lingered  about  the  nest 
uncertain,  even  as  a  puppy  whimpers  about 
the  litter-bed  from  which  its  companions 
have  been  taken.  Then  he  swam  slowly 
around  the  spot,  turned  toward  the  deep, 
and  went  his  solitary  way. 


VII 


N  the  life  of  the  bass  time  flies  more 
rapidly  than  with  men.  For  him  one 
year  is  as  five  to  man.  Five  times 
may  the  earth  revolve  around  its  parent 
body  to  age  a  boy  as  one  revolution  ages  the 
fish. 

So  with  the  rolling  seasons  the  fish  of 
our  school  rapidly  matured.  At  five  years 
they  were  transformed  from  the  little 
quarter-inch  wrigglers  to  mature  specimens, 
comparable  in  age  to  men  of  twenty-five. 

Not,  of  course,  that  all  were  the  same  size. 
Among  men  the  question  is  often  asked  as 
to  how  large  a  bass  of  five  years  really  is. 
As  if  an  answer  could  be  given!  At  six 


72  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

months  the  average  may  run  around  six 
inches ;  at  the  Neosho  station  a  bass  known 
to  be  under  eighteen  months  of  age  was 
found  to  weigh  one  pound  nine  and  three- 
quarter  ounces. 

But  who  would  ask  how  large  men  are  at 
twenty- five?  The  question  could  be  put 
but  not  answered ;  for  men  vary  in  size  and 
weight.  Some  are  tall,  others  short;  some 
fat,  others  skinny;  some  big,  others  small. 
To  strike  an  average  would  be  to  exclude 
all. 

It  is  even  so  with  bass.  In  some  Southern 
waters  they  have  weighed  at  maturity  as 
much  as  twenty-three  pounds.  The  coun- 
try over  they  vary  as  men  vary.  But  in 
Lone  Pine  he  was  a  big  bass  that  at  five 
years  should  tip  the  scales  at  seven  pounds. 

Not  that  all  the  members  of  our  school 
ever  reached  maturity.  A  table  of  vital 
statistics  among  men  will  show  that  of  one 
hundred  thousand  children  of  ten  years, 
ninety-six  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  live  to  reach  fifteen,  ninety-three 
thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-two  reach 
nineteen,  and  only  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  reach  ninety. 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      73 

So  time  ravages  a  school  of  fish,  save  that 
with  them  we  have  illustration  of  nature's 
vast  design  to  perpetuate  the  species.  For 
she  has  so  fixed  it  that  the  more  hazardous 
the  infancy  of  a  species  the  more  numerous 
is  the  progeny  to  begin  with.  The  average 
American  family  is  2.5,  but  human  infants 
are  protected,  so  that  the  species  may  keep 
alive  on  such  a  slender  birth  rate. 

But,  what  with  the  storm  and  the  snake, 
the  turtle  and  the  pickerel,  the  frog  and 
the  hawk,  the  muskrat  and  the  fisherman, 
the  infancy  of  the  fish  is  beset  with  peril. 
But  nature  provides  for  this  by  a  more  pro- 
lific birth  rate.  The  carp  deposits  her  eggs 
promiscuously,  and  without  parental  care 
they  drift  as  the  sport  of  the  waters  and  the 
food  of  water  life;  but  she  lays  as  high  as 
seven  hundred  thousand  eggs,  so  that  with 
all  the  hazards  the  species  multiplies.  The 
infancy  of  the  bass  being  less  perilous,  ten 
thousand  eggs  per  spawn  are  sufficient  to 
keep  the  species  alive.  But  even  so,  all  life 
presents  a  fierce  struggle  of  life  with  death. 
Time  has  taken  the  ten  thousand  eggs  of 
the  mother  of  our  school  and  winnowed 
them  till  at  five  years  there  are  but  nineteen 


74  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

left.  But  of  these  nineteen  Old  Black  Bass 
is  undisputed  ruler.  His  is  a  body  of  iron, 
black  and  tremendously  strong.  And  of 
disposition  he  is  indescribably  bold. 

To  the  contemplative  eye  he  would  sug- 
gest the  weight  of  seven  pounds.  His  thick- 
ness, being  one  third  of  his  length,  gave  him 
an  unwieldy  appearance  that  deceived  the 
eye  as  to  his  real  agility.  Up  on  his  flat 
back  the  nine  spines  of  his  dorsal  flared  like 
sharp  bayonets,  tapered  by  the  thirteen  rays 
behind. 

His  great  body  was  marked  by  a  delicate 
lateral  line,  the  fish's  sense  for  locating  the 
direction  of  shocks  and  for  gauging  the 
depth  of  water  by  its  pressure.  From  gill 
to  tail  along  this  line  were  twenty-three 
rows  of  scales,  seven  above  and  sixteen  be- 
low, and  in  each  row  were  sixty-eight  scales 
— dark  scales  glossy  from  an  internal  oint- 
ment, scales  that  flashed  and  glistened,  an 
exoskeleton  of  protection. 

His  head  was  the  head  of  a  fighter:  cheek 
armored  by  ten  rows  of  glistening  scales; 
maxillary  cleaving  the  head ;  mouth  gleam- 
ing with  cruel  teeth ;  and  cold,  lidless  eyes 
filled  with  brooding — eyes  through  which 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      75 

he  surveyed  the  world  with  a  boldness  that 
challenged  everything  and  bowed  to  noth- 
ing! 

Many  were  the  factors  that  had  fashioned 
him:  physical  heredity  that  had  endowed 
him  with  measureless  vigor,  power  that  had 
awakened  and  nourished  the  sense  of  despot- 
ism, jealousy  of  Leaper  that  had  soured  him, 
defeat  by  the  great  bass  that  had  em- 
bittered him.  But  at  five  years  he  swam  at 
the  head  of  his  school,  feared  by  many  and 
hated  by  all. 

Leaper  feared  him  not.  And  while  of 
slighter  build  and  less  treacherous  disposi- 
tion, he  nevertheless  was  fish  enough  to  give 
full  account  of  himself  in  any  encounter. 
And  the  encounter  came  on  a  morning  in 
early  May. 

Sober  was  tired  and  thin  from  the  winter. 
With  the  school  she  was  as  yet  almost  too 
tired  and  listless  to  try  for  food.  Leaper 
had  foraged  afar  and  with  good  success. 
Voracious  as  he  was,  his  appetite  was  satis- 
fied. But  near  the  pickerel  weed  off  shore 
he  ran  down  a  frog,  and  with  it  in  his 
mouth  approached  Sober.  In  front  of  her 
he  dropped  it  for  her  to  eat.  It  was  an  act 


76  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

similar  to  that  of  the  rooster  when  he  calls 
his  hens  to  a  morsel  of  his  finding. 

With  a  kindly  flap  of  the  tail,  Sober  made 
for  it,  pathetically  grateful  to  Leaper.  But 
ere  she  could  get  it  Old  Black  Bass  rushed 
in  and  gobbled  it  down. 

It  was  too  much  even  for  Leaper.  His 
position  was  similar  to  that  of  a  suitor  whose 
offering  to  his  lady  has  been  ruthlessly 
thrown  out  by  an  angry  rival,  and  that  be- 
fore the  lady's  very  eyes. 

Sober  dropped  back,  a  questioning  eye 
on  Leaper.  The  others  saw  the  act  and 
closed  in,  curious  as  to  the  probable  effect. 
Old  Black  Bass,  by  his  attitude  of  raw  dis- 
dain, fanned  the  incident  to  open  insult.  He 
craved  a  break  with  Leaper. 

To  Leaper  it  was  more  an  affair  of  prin- 
ciple than  a  personal  affront.  He  had  been 
doing  a  good  deed  and  his  work  had  been 
broken  in  upon  by  selfishness.  All  the 
altruism  born  within  him  rose  to  the  con- 
flict. 

The  others  sensed  the  impending  strug- 
gle, for  they  remained  near  to  watch. 
Nervousness  was  the  portion  of  many;  yet 
not  a  few  meant  to  watch  for  signs  that  Old 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      77 

Black  Bass  was  weakening,  when  they 
would  join  in  and  even  old  scores  against 
him. 

Old  Black  Bass  struck  first,  his  pale,  near- 
sighted eyes  eager  at  the  prospect.  Mouth 
closed  he  thrust  his  hard  snout  against 
Leaper's  side.  The  scales  along  the  lateral 
line  gave  way  at  the  impact,  and  red  wound 
showed  dull  beneath  it. 

Dorsal  spines  sharp  drawn,  Leaper 
lurched  sidewise  and  brought  the  needle 
points  tearing  across  the  great  fish's  belly. 
Small,  fine  scales  silvered  the  water. 

Angered  at  this  vicious  thrust,  Old  Black 
Bass  charged  mouth  open,  and  his  wicked 
teeth  dragged  Leaper's  gill  slits  above  the 
red  blood  vessels.  He  checked  himself, 
only  to  receive  in  return  a  heavy  thrust  from 
Leaper's  head. 

The  first  recklessness  passed,  the  two 
settled  down  to  a  struggle  of  attrition. 
There  were  maneuvers  for  advantage,  skill- 
ful retreats,  deft  feints,  bold  rushes,  supple 
thrusts,  wicked  slashes;  and  again  the 
maneuver  for  advantage. 

But  from  the  first  the  outcome  was  deter- 
mined. No  fish  in  the  school  could  stand 


78  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

against  Old  Black  Bass.  And  with  fierce 
satisfaction  he  had  known  this  from  the 
beginning. 

But  as  the  struggle  dragged  out,  this 
satisfaction  dwindled.  Of  what  value  the 
victory  to  him  when  it  would  occasion  only 
regret  among  his  kind?  And  how  could  he 
boast  of  it,  when  in  his  heart  he  knew  he 
was  in  the  wrong?  For  he  did  know  this. 
The  altruistic  instinct  is  born  within  the 
fish,  and  he  knows  when  he  is  violating  it. 

At  first  he  had  thought  that  this  mattered 
but  little;  that  only  the  conquest  counted. 
But  as  the  fight  waged  and  he  fought  with 
success  more  and  more  assured,  it  came  over 
him  that  victory  would  mean  defeat.  It 
would  make  him  more  than  ever  an  outcast. 
And  what  is  triumph  with  no  one  to  rejoice? 

But  more  than  this  came  to  him.  He  saw 
that  Leaper  was  right  and  he  was  wrong; 
he  sensed  a  greater  than  he  before  him, 
though  the  greater  was  weaker.  Never— 
suddenly  and  clearly  he  knew  it — could  he 
hope  to  be  Leaper's  equal,  though  he  should 
conquer  him.  For  while  he  was  an  indi- 
vidualist, wrecking  for  his  own  pleasure, 
Leaper  was  defending  the  principle  of 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      79 

altruism  which  the  ages  had  taught  his 
kind. 

Nor  was  this  championing  of  altruism 
remarkable.  It  was  as  surely  instinct  with- 
in as  the  fighting  tendency,  though  it  was 
social.  And  because  Old  Black  Bass  had 
the  social  instinct  in  sufficient  degree  to 
enable  him  to  appreciate  this,  he  now  under- 
stood that  Leaper  was  greater  than  he,  for 
he  was  defending  the  principles  the  ages 
had  taught  him.1 

Of  a  sudden  Leaper  drove  home  a  barb 
that  tore  cruelly,  and  at  the  pain  Old  Black 
Bass  felt  not  so  much  anger  as  queer  pleas- 
ure. He  was  sick  of  the  role  of  the  bully, 
sick  of  the  rule  of  force,  sick  of  hard  glances, 
sick  of  Gloria's  loathing.  This  fierce  stab 
of  pain  was  about  what  he  deserved,  and 
the  fact  that  he  was  getting  it  gave  him 
fierce  satisfaction. 

In  the  human  realm  a  man  may  in  his 
high  selfishness  turn  his  back  on  the  friend- 
liness of  home  and  wander  in  a  far  country. 
But  in  time  he  drains  life  to  the  dregs  and 
by  the  swineherd  remembers  his  father's 
house.  So  Old  Black  Bass  had  ramped 

iConfer  Jordan's  Fithes,  p.  4off.,  for  discussion  of  the  instincts  offish. 


8o  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

through  life  with  thought  of  self  alone,  only 
to  sense  vaguely  now  that  real  contentment 
is  bound  up  with  friendliness  of  his  kind. 
Without  this  friendliness  he  should  lose  his 
life,  even  though  he  save  it. 

Leaper  was  coming  at  him  when  this 
lonely  realization  rose  to  trouble  him; 
Leaper  loved  of  his  kind,  Leaper  fighting 
to  the  death  for  principle  not  so  much  of 
value  to  himself  as  to  his  species.  But  even 
as  he  came  the  grim  light  of  his  eye  faded 
to  weariness.  His  mouth  sagged,  and  the 
torn  gill  slit  quivered  in  fatigue. 

It  was  here  that  Old  Black  Bass  sur- 
rendered. Instead  of  pressing  his  advan- 
tage he  exposed  himself  to  attack.  But 
Leaper  was  too  wearied  to  note  it.  Wearily 
he  turned  on  his  side,  then  desperately 
righted  himself.  The  sympathy  of  the 
school  went  out  to  him,  and  as  one  they 
rose  against  Old  Black  Bass.  They  had 
not  understood,  of  course,  the  awakening 
that  had  come  over  him.  They  knew  only 
that  he  was  killing  their  comrade.  So  they 
swarmed  about  him,  buffeting  him  without 
mercy,  rushing  him  fiercely;  and  drove  him 
unresisting  from  the  school. 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      81. 

By  a  great  ledge  of  rock  far  out  in  the 
lake  he  found  a  sanctuary.  Remorse  was 
his,  the  first  he  had  ever  known.  And  lone- 
liness. Now  it  was  denied  him,  he  coveted 
the  company  of  his  kind.  The  friendly 
school  dashes  through  the  darkening  waters, 
little  acts  denoting  understanding  and  help- 
fulness— for  all  these  a  Voice  cried  out 
within  him,  an  old  Paleolithic  voice  that 
surged  and  troubled. 

Blindly  he  made  his  way  back  toward  the 
school.  Leaper  was  in  the  midst  of  it, 
object  of  solicitude  from  Gloria,  subject 
of  sympathy  from  all.  When  Old  Black 
Bass  entered  the  outer  fringe,  they  surveyed 
him  with  resentment  and  renewed  loathing. 
Dorsal  spines  flared  on  many  backs,  expect- 
ant of  attack. 

But  he  struck  not.  He  had  learned  that 
it  is  not  by  might  or  power,  blustering  or 
force,  but  by  a  kindly  spirit  that  the  world 
is  gained.  And  realizing  this,  he  coveted 
nothing  more  than  a  chance  to  let  his  fel- 
lows see  that  at  last  he  understood. 

Chances  came.  A  school  of  shiners  was 
encountered,  and  he  held  back  till  the 
others  had  fed.  Hot  sun  beat  upon  the 


82  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

waters,  and  there  was  scarce  room  in  the 
shade  of  the  rock  for  all.  But  he  allowed 
them  to  take  the  better  places.  A  turtle 
dropped  among  them,  sliding  from  the 
stone,  and  with  vigor  he  drove  it  away.  A 
muskrat  roiled  the  water  about  them  till 
it  felt  the  sudden  thrust  of  his  body. 

And  these  things  he  did  from  day  to  day, 
still  unobtrusive,  humble,  and  with  ques- 
tioning. And  in  time  the  attitude  toward 
him  mellowed.  Even  fish  despise  not  the 
broken  and  contrite  spirit.  Glances  of 
anger  changed  to  wonder,  wonder  to  eager- 
ness, and  eagerness  to  understanding.  A 
place,  small  at  first  but  increasingly  large, 
he  was  making  for  himself  in  the  affections 
of  his  kind. 

With  one  exception.  Clumsy  was  like 
some  people:  he  interpreted  all  nonresist- 
ance  as  cowardice.  So  when  he  saw  the 
change  in  Old  Black  Bass  he  thought  it 
fear.  He  thought  the  conflict  with  Leaper 
had  tamed  him  to  unwilling  but  discreet 
submission.  When  the  big  fish  persisted  in 
keeping  his  humble  place,  Clumsy  went 
back  to  annoy  him  forward  in  hope  of  pro- 
voking a  fight  He  even  dared  once  himself 


A  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE      83 

to  rush  Old  Black  Bass,  hoping  to  win  re- 
pute for  valor  for  doing  it.  And  when  he 
encountered  patience,  his  daring  increased : 
he  tried  to  chase  the  big  fellow  from  the 
school. 

But  Old  Black  Bass  bore  it  all  without 
flare  of  resentment.  At  times  he  even  wel- 
comed it,  as  giving  chance  to  discipline  his 
wild  nature.  Only  once  did  he  come  near 
forgetting  himself.  Clumsy  snatched  a 
shiner  from  Old  Black  Bass  that  the  latter 
was  turning  about  to  swallow  head-first, 
and  this  was  done  in  the  presence  of  Gloria. 
It  was  open  and  flagrant  insult.  The  great 
dorsal  flared  like  bristles  on  the  back  of  an 
Airedale.  Opening  jaws  exposed  gleaming 
teeth;  there  was  movement  of  gathering 
muscles  over  the  big  body. 

But  he  subsided,  the  anger  leaving  him. 
And  instead  of  sensing  his  danger,  Clumsy 
concluded  that  henceforth  he  could  do  any- 
thing with  impunity.  In  this  conclusion, 
though  he  knew  it  not  at  the  time,  he  was 
unwise,  as  time  would  tell. 

On  a  day  the  school  was  foraging  down 
near  the  great  dyke  when  it  encountered  a 
bass  from  a  strange  school — a  wanderer, 


84  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

lost  after  a  wild  hour  with  an  angler — a 
female  of  four  years,  graceful  and  comely. 
She  joined  the  school  with  the  eagerness  of 
loneliness,  and  seeing  the  great  and  kindly 
bass,  swam  to  him  at  once. 

Her  whole  manner  toward  him  was  of 
admiration  and  respect.  She  touched  his 
side  gently  and  waited,  fanning  with  tawny 
pelvic  fins.  This  was  the  first  real  friendli- 
ness Old  Black  Bass  had  ever  encountered, 
directed  at  himself  alone.  It  stirred  some- 
thing deep  within  him.  As  if  afraid  of  the 
ridicule  of  the  school  he  looked  quickly 
about  him,  but  he  saw  only  sympathy. 

He  turned  to  the  stranger,  and  she  was 
stranger  no  longer.  Her  glance  was  so 
direct  and  open,  her  movement  so  ingenu- 
ously appealing,  that  from  that  hour  she 
became  Friendly,  and  by  that  name  was 
ever  known.  Taking  her  place  beside  Old 
Black  Bass,  the  school  went  leisurely 
through  the  sparkling  waters. 


VIII 


HE  mating  season  of  the  fifth  year! 
Spring  called  forth  the  change.  A 
mild  pressure  of  roe  caused  the 
females  to  respond  in  subtle  manner  to  the 
advances  of  the  males,  while  males  courted 
with  all  the  gallantry  and  persistence  of 
their  kind. 

Their  color  had  changed.  It  was  the 
nuptial  coloration  that  deepens  the  red 
bird's  wing  and  touches  the  throat  of  the 
robin.  The  heads  of  the  male  bass  turned  a 
darker  hue,  while  the  exoskeleton  was  of 
richer  polish.  Lateral  lines  sprayed  mucous 
gloss  over  their  bodies  till  they  were  sleek 
as  a  trotter  fresh  from  the  brush  and  rub. 

85 


86  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

Nature  has  provided  the  bass  with  three 
kinds  of  coloration:  the  protective,  which 
makes  him  dark  on  back  and  light  on  belly. 
Seen  from  above,  dark  objects  in  water 
blend  almost  indistinguishably  with  their 
medium,  so  the  bass's  dark  back  shields  him 
from  fish  hawk's  keen  eye ;  while  from  be- 
low him  and  looking  up  all  objects  appear 
lighter.  Thus  his  belly  blends  him  with 
his  environment  like  a  chameleon.  Then 
there  is  the  sex  coloration,  which  produces 
the  darker  male  and  the  lighter  female. 
But  finally  is  the  nuptial  change  which 
comes  at  mating  time.  It  was  this  which 
now  touched  Gloria  and  Gay  and  Friendly 
and  their  sisters  with  a  rare  pale  silver  as 
alluring  to  the  males  as  maiden's  shy  blush 
is  to  the  eager  eyes  of  her  lover. 

Unlike  the  viviparous  white  perch,  which 
carries  her  young  in  her  body  as  do  the 
higher  mammals,  the  bass  are  oviparous. 
First  the  roe,  then  the  eggs,  next  the  tiny 
spawn,  and  last  the  school.  So  the  fish 
paired  and  went  their  nesting  way  as  man 
and  maiden  pair  to  build  the  home. 

There  was  no  hesitation  now.  Old  Black 
Bass  and  Friendly  went  together,  she 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER    87 

proudly  happy,  he  in  high  protective  eager- 
ness, swinging  with  a  vast  confidence  and 
show  of  power,  though  his  force  was  now 
tempered  with  kindliness. 

Friendly  had  not  known  him  in  his  days 
of  surliness,  so  she  looked  for  nothing  but 
good  in  him,  and,  looking,  found  it.  He 
was  model.  Never  had  male  guarded  nest 
with  more  jealous  care. 

A  picnicking  party  was  on  shore  one  day; 
and  a  boy  of  ten  was  allowed  to  go  in  the 
water.  His  course  took  him  within  sight 
of  Friendly's  nest,  and  his  curiosity  took 
him  further.  He  waded  toward  it. 

Old  Black  Bass  watched  him  approach 
with  growing  apprehension.  Friendly 
swam  nearer  as  if  to  seek  his  protection. 
The  boy  kept  on.  The  water  was  too  deep 
for  him  to  reach  the  nest,  but  the  bass  did 
not  know  this.  He  was  already  too  near 
for  them. 

Old  Black  Bass  began  swimming  nerv- 
ously back  and  to,  back  and  to,  like  the 
ceaseless  padding  of  a  caged  leopard.  His 
aspect  was  fierce.  The  boy  was  dropping 
his  hand  into  the  water  and  catching  up 
handfuls  scattering  it  like  a  sower  his  seed. 


88  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

This  especially  gave  Old  Black  Bass  con- 
cern. The  drops  fell  on  the  surface  and 
disturbed  it,  rolling  like  white  diamonds 
dangerously  near  the  nest. 

For  Old  Black  Bass  the  hand  became  an 
instrument  of  danger.  He  approached  it 
and  receded,  threshed  the  water  near  it, 
tried  to  frighten  it  away.  He  was  not  suc- 
cessful. But  he  did  not  flee.  Instead  he 
did  a  thing  which  many  bass  at  mating  time 
have  been  known  to  do.  He  rushed  the 
hand,  leaped  clear  of  the  water,  and  struck 
it. 

The  great  surging  body  and  the  impact 
frightened  the  boy,  and  he  turned  and  went 
back;  while  Old  Black  Bass  dropped  down 
in  rejoicing.  His  reward  came  when 
Friendly  slipped  up  to  him  and  touched  his 
side  with  her  lips. 

But  he  was  to  be  called  on  still  further 
to  protect  his  nest  and  his  mate.  Only  the 
next  day  a  great  water  snake  slid  out  over 
the  bottom  in  search  of  fish  eggs.  It  was 
three  feet  and  one  inch  from  fang  to  tail; 
and  during  the  years  of  its  life  had  many 
times  glided  over  clean-fanned  spawn  beds 
and  gorged. 


"Old  Black  Bass  steeled  his  mighty  heart  for  the  conflict." 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER     89 

Old  Black  Bass  saw  it  coming,  and  the 
fear  that  is  within  man  for  the  reptile  filled 
him  with  nausea,  for  the  snake  is  ancient 
enemy  to  the  fish:  fish  that  have  survived 
have  feared  and  fought  it;  those  without 
fear  of  it  succumbed  to  its  treachery.  The 
result  is  a  snake-hating  species.  Involun- 
tarily Old  Black  Bass  felt  the  scales  of  his 
cheek  crawl  loathsomely,  yet  he  did  not  flee. 

Other  bass  have  done  what  he  did  that 
day1;  but  no  amount  of  repetition  would 
make  the  feat  less  heroic.  The  snake  was 
three  times  the  length  of  Old  Black  Bass, 
and  wise  and  fearless  with  years.  It  slid 
toward  the  nest  like  a  silk  line  reeled  swiftly 
over  the  surface — beautifully,  with  grace- 
ful undulations.  Two  inches  behind  the 
jaw  the  body  arched,  holding  the  head 
triumphantly  high. 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life  Old  Black 
Bass  gave  ground.  Not  through  fear,  for 
he  knew  it  not.  It  was  an  involuntary 
movement  of  loathing  and  repulsion,  life's 
normal  shrinking  from  the  snake  since  the 
curse  was  placed  upon  it  in  the  Garden. 

iSee  rolumc  on  Artifit Ul  Profagation  of  Blac k  Bants,  Graffiti,  and  Rod  Bast, 
No.  347,  United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  for  a  statement  of  black 
bass  killing  snake  three  times  its  own  length. 


90  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

This  was  his  first  real  bodily  encounter 
with  the  reptile.  But  he  needed  no  expe- 
rience to  guide  him.  The  experience  of  the 
past  was  his  as  a  racial  habit;  and  now  the 
Voice  of  the  ages  told  him  what  to  do. 

The  snake  reached  the  nest  and  slid  its  flat 
head  over  the  first  stone  and  sucked  up  an 
egg.  Lidless  eyes  flamed  with  gluttony. 
Then  it  sensed  Old  Black  Bass's  approach 
and  jerked  its  head  threateningly  high. 
Black  tongue  licked  warning. 

But  the  big  fish's  hard  maxillary  met  the 
sinuous  body  six  inches  back  of  the  head  and 
thrust  it  off  the  nest.  There  was  lightning- 
quick  contraction  and  Old  Black  Bass  was 
wrapped  up  in  the  coils  of  the  reptile  as  a 
mummy  is  swathed  in  bandages.  But  the 
slick  mucous  that  covered  him  now  served 
him  well:  the  very  pressure  of  the  snake 
caused  the  fish  to  slip  through  the  coils  like 
an  apple  seed  shot  from  a  youngster's 
fingers. 

For  the  first  time  the  snake  showed  anger 
and  seriousness.  Its  eyes  glowed  with 
wicked  determination.  Like  the  hammer  of 
a  gun  drawn  back  and  then  let  fall,  its 
muscular  body  reared  up  and  descended  on 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER     91 

the  fish,  fangs  sinking  deep.  Had  it  been  its 
cousin  the  water  moccasin,  poison  would 
have  killed.  But  the  water  snake's  bite  is 
not  poisonous.  But  the  fangs  pierced  and 
tore  the  flesh,  and  flowing  blood  dyed  the 
water. 

The  conflict  drew  them  too  near  the  nest, 
and  for  all  he  was  fighting  for  his  life  Old 
Black  Bass  was  the  parent  on  vigil;  he 
maneuvered  the  snake  away  from  the  bed. 
To  avoid  another  slash  from  the  fangs  he 
leaped  clear  of  the  water.  Descending  he 
cut  through  and  attacked. 

Suddenly  he  knew  he  would  win,  and  the 
great  joy  of  the  conflict  took  possession  of 
him.  Here  at  last  he  could  fight  without 
reproach.  His  great  jaws  opened  and  sharp 
gleaming  teeth  were  bare.  Eight  inches 
back  of  the  head  he  caught  the  snake  and 
closed  down.  Giant  maxillaries  clamped 
over  the  body  in  a  vice  like  the  tireless  jaws 
of  a  bull  dog. 

The  snake  arched  its  ribs  to  break  the 
hold,  but  only  was  crushed  the  more ;  con- 
tracted to  ease  the  pain,  but  was  pierced 
near  through.  There  was  still  length 
enough  to  permit  strike,  and,  arching,  the 


92  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

snake  sank  its  fangs  in  the  fish's  side.  But 
a  crunching  of  the  great  jaws  caused  it  to 
writhe  and  loosen. 

It  twisted  and  whipped,  its  tail  out  of  the 
water  and  flailing  the  surface.  But  it  was 
done.  Fifteen  minutes  after  it  had  sucked 
up  the  first  egg  its  body  drifted  through  the 
water  inert,  backbone  broken;  and  Old 
Black  Bass  was  in  his  position  as  outer 
guard  at  the  nest  of  Friendly. 

The  next  day  he  felt  weak.  The  water 
he  breathed  through  his  gills  seemed  vapid 
and  unsatisfying.  He  gulped  it,  but  it 
passed  over  his  gills  like  a  malarial  current. 
The  wounds  in  his  body  were  not  healed  by 
it,  but  were  fretted  and  aggravated. 

Friendly  also  was  acting  queerly,  though 
she  had  not  fought  the  snake.  She  wavered 
over  the  nest  like  a  minnow  in  a  pail  of  stale 
water,  gasping,  rolling  to  her  side,  gulping. 
A  rock  bass  floated  on  the  surface  above, 
bloated.  Perch  floated  by  also,  and  more 
rock  bass ;  a  great  black  bass  drifted  above 
them,  gulping  the  air  for  a  time,  then  died, 
and  its  body  was  washed  to  the  shore  where 
it  lay  the  food  of  turtles. 

A  fever  was  sweeping  the  upper  lake. 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER    93 

Long  it  had  waged,  and  at  last  had  reached 
as  far  down  as  the  nest  of  Friendly.  It  was 
a  fever  of  poison.  Up  at  the  head  of  the 
lake  was  a  mine,  started  two  months  back 
by  a  corporation  which  sensed  the  wealth 
of  the  hills. 

Poisonous  water  from  this  mine  ran 
copper-colored  down  into  the  lake.  The 
stones  on  the  surrounding  bottom  turned 
brick  red.  Waters  crystal  before  were  now 
polluted  by  a  pervasive  death.  The 
medium  which  gives  life  to  the  fish  as  air 
gives  it  to  man  was  corrupted.  They 
breathed  it,  but  it  did  not  satisfy;  gulped  it 
more  freely,  but  the  very  increase  of  quan- 
tity poisoned  them  the  more. 

True  fishermen  had  seen  it  and  com- 
plained. But  the  corporation's  profit  would 
have  been  cut  one  thirtieth  of  one  per  cent 
had  the  copper-colored  poison  been  di- 
verted to  a  cesspool  and  refined,  so  it  was 
not  done. 

But  there  was  in  existence  an  organiza- 
tion formed  for  just  such  a  time  as  this ;  and 
it  took  a  vigorous  hand.  The  American 
Game  Protective  Association  was  apprised 
of  the  situation  and  acted  vigorously  and  at 


94  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

once.  Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  where 
it  would  do  the  most  good ;  and  the  flow  of 
brown  poison  was  stopped. 

Old  Black  Bass  did  not  know  who  had 
befriended  him;  but  the  sweet  water  came 
again  and  he  breathed  it  deep.  Friendly 
righted  herself  and  took  up  again  her  high 
vigil  above  her  nest.  Dead  fish  no  more 
floated  above  them,  for  Lone  Pine  had  been 
purified. 

While,  of  course,  Old  Black  Bass  did  not 
know  it,  yet  in  the  streams  of  a  thousand 
rivers  this  poison  is  let  loose  through  greed ; 
and  to  the  fish  hawk  and  the  mink,  the 
muskrat  and  the  snake,  the  frog  and  the 
turtle,  is  added  another  enemy  of  the  bass 
— the  enemy  of  Greed. 

And  this  enemy,  because  of  its  insidious 
nature  and  its  seeming  economic  justifica- 
tion, is  the  Great  Destroyer  of  the  waters. 
It  is  the  Black  Death  of  the  fish.  But  some 
day  the  friend  will  be  as  powerful  as  the 
foe,  and  Man  will  intervene  to  prevent  the 
extermination  of  a  species.  The  Spirit  of 
the  Fisherman  will  rejoice  to  see  that  good 
day. 

The    little    school    placed    safely,    Old 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER    95 

Black  Bass  and  his  mate  went  a-wandering 
over  the  lake.  One  by  one  they  found  their 
kindred,  knowing  them  by  various  pecu- 
liarities known  among  men  as  "recognition- 
marks."  At  such  meetings  there  was 
general  friendliness  and  pleasure,  till 
Clumsy  was  found. 

He  nosed  Old  Black  Bass  insolently,  and 
took  up  his  sport  of  annoyance.  He  mis- 
interpreted the  friendly  manner  with  which 
the  big  fish  allowed  him  to  approach,  mis- 
construing it  as  timidity.  So  day  after  day 
he  kept  up  his  work:  asserted  his  right  to 
best  shades,  took  the  food  that  Old  Black 
Bass  would  have  eaten,  disported  about 
him  in  the  presence  of  the  others.  It  an- 
noyed Old  Black  Bass  exceedingly.  Many 
times  his  expression  was  that  of  the  older 
dog  mussed  and  wooled  by  the  pup.  But 
he  refrained  from  retaliation. 

But  by  the  end  of  the  week  Clumsy  was 
cavorting  about  Friendly.  She  took  it  all 
good-naturedly;  at  times  flattered  by  it  even 
as  a  girl  responds  to  the  admiration  of  a 
youngster  she  cares  little  for. 

Only  then  did  a  strange  light  begin  to 
burn  in  the  red  iris  of  Old  Black  Bass's  eye. 


96  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

By  threatening  movements  he  tried  to  give 
warnings,  but  Clumsy  heeded  them  not. 
Rather,  he  was  delighted  that  at  last  he  had 
found  a  vulnerable  spot. 

In  vain  did  the  big  fish  try  to  hold  him- 
self in  check.  He  desired  no  trouble.  But 
in  time  his  patience  gave  way.  Rising  sud- 
denly he  buffeted  the  astonished  Clumsy  a 
full  half  yard.  And  before  he  could  re- 
cover from  his  amazement  he  was  put  upon 
again.  The  great  tail  lashed  him ;  the  heavy 
head  pounded  him  on  the  side  with  the 
force  of  a  battering  ram;  cruel  teeth 
gleamed  directly  before  his  eyes.  For  five 
minutes  Old  Black  Bass  was  a  throw-back, 
a  reversion  to  his  former  self,  terrible  in 
rage,  red-lusting  for  blood. 

As  ever  with  the  coward,  Clumsy  scam- 
pered away,  crestfallen,  outraged.  And  to 
his  surreptitious  bids  for  sympathy  and 
backing  he  received  only  amusement  and 
ridicule. 

Then  came  the  big  fish's  struggle  with 
the  old  riverman.  A  great  angler  came  to 
Lone  Pine  and  pitched  his  pup  tent  up  near 
the  inlet.  The  evening  of  his  arrival  he 
spent  sorting  his  tackle. 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER    97 

He  took  a  reel  from  a  leather  pouch  and 
went  over  it  with  an  oiled  cloth ;  carefully, 
lovingly,  as  though  he  enjoyed  the  task.  He 
unscrewed  an  agate  jewel  and  put  a  tiny  bit 
of  vaseline  in  the  grease  cup.  A  new  silk 
line  of  dark  green  he  fastened  to  the  spool 
and  turned  it  carefully  on. 

Then  he  took  a  steel  bait  casting  rod  from 
its  case  and  ran  his  eye  over  the  agate 
leaders;  went  over  it  with  the  oiled  cloth 
till  the  tapering  metal  shone  like  smooth 
ebony. 

In  a  small  box  he  found  abundance  of 
tackle  which  he  sorted  with  infinite  care. 
It  was  the  box  he  had  whiled  away  winter 
evenings  over;  and  its  contents  represented 
his  judgment  on  lures. 

The  polished  rod  and  the  noiseless-run- 
ning reel  he  placed  near  him,  and  beside 
them  the  selected  lures.  He  drew  the  fire 
and  turned  in  till  morning. 

At  four  o'clock  he  was  frying  bacon  and 
eggs  beside  the  sputtering  coffee  pot.  His 
face  wore  a  look  of  pleased  satisfaction, 
for  it  was  a  bass  morning.  He  was  alone; 
clouds  were  banked  in  the  sky ;  and  the  black 
water  spread  out  before  him.  Now  here, 


98  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

now  there,  was  a  swirl  as  a  big  one  struck 
or  a  splash  as  a  neighbor  leaped. 

Carefully  he  jointed  rod,  adjusted  reel, 
and  attached  a  lure.  Then  he  waded  waist 
deep  into  the  water,  and  cast  far  out.  And, 
as  is  so  often  arranged  by  Fate,  Old  Black 
Bass  had  chosen  that  spot  for  his  feeding 
ground  that  morning. 

But  the  canny  monster  was  not  fooled  by 
the  lure.  It  was  too  unwieldy  to  be  mis- 
taken. Many  times  in  the  five  years  of  his 
life  he  had  seen  such  plugs  in  the  water. 
Friendly  made  for  it,  but  he  thrust  her 
aside  and  she  lay  low.  But  Clumsy  darted 
for  it,  and  five  minutes  later  made  first 
catch  in  a  large  creel.  Old  Black  Bass  was 
indifferent  to  his  going,  but  he  did  fidget 
nervously  when  Wall-eye  connected.  The 
beautiful  fish  fought  bravely,  rushing 
madly,  leaping  and  shaking  her  head 
savagely.  But  she  followed  Clumsy  to  the 
creel.  After  five  years  together,  they  lay 
at  the  last  in  the  same  creel. 

For  a  full  half  hour  the  lures  tantalized 
the  waters.  Plugs  that  swayed  and  swam 
and  dived  and  floated  and  wriggled; 
feathered  lures  that  ran  deep  and  skimmed 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER     99 

the  surface;  spoons  of  brass  and  glittering 
silver.  Once  when  a  toothsome  frog  hit  the 
surface  and  lay  kicking  there,  Old  Black 
Bass  felt  the  hunger  urge  to  strike.  But 
a  Voice  of  caution  stayed  him. 

But  the  great  angler  was  clever.  He 
drew  in  the  rejected  lure  and  changed  it 
for  a  plain  hook.  This  plain  hook  he  in- 
serted just  behind  the  dorsal  fin  of  a  slender 
shiner.  He  threw  both  far  to  one  side,  and 
by  clever  leading  made  the  minnow  swim  in 
a  circle  about  him,  but  far  out. 

Old  Black  Bass  had  been  waiting  for 
another  plug  to  strike  and  be  drawn  straight 
in.  Hanging  expectant,  he  was  startled  by 
the  till-then-unnoticed  approach  of  this 
venturesome  shiner.  It  annoyed  him  to  be 
interrupted.  More  in  annoyance  than 
hunger  he  struck,  caught  the  hapless 
minnow  and  gobbled  him  down — only  to 
feel  a  quick  decisive  jerk,  and  a  sharp  stab 
of  pain  in  his  throat.  A  thin,  hard  line  sawed 
his  mouth  and  he  closed  his  teeth  on  it. 
But  the  gut  leader  would  not  part. 

Immediately  he  dashed  to  surface  and 
leaped  high,  his  great  head  shaking  sav- 
agely. But  still  the  pull  shoreward.  He 


ioo  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

reared  and  made  for  deep,  only  to  be  let 
go.  Far  out  the  gentle  pull  of  line  brought 
him  up.  He  darted  back,  leaped,  rushed 
sidewise;  but  ever  the  gentle  pressure  from 
the  shallows.  It  was  this  gentle  pull  that 
drove  him  mad — insinuating,  relentless, 
portentous,  inexorable. 

He  opened  his  mouth  and  let  his  gills 
go  limp,  the  while  he  bucked  the  pressure. 
His  esophagus  gave,  and  the  hook  pulled 
out  to  the  base  of  the  tongue.  Another 
leap  and  the  hook  tore  partly  out.  If  the 
pressure  on  it  were  relaxed,  letting  it  slip 
back  slightly,  it  might  come  free.  But  Old 
Black  Bass  did  not  know  this.  The  angler 
did. 

Vainly  he  fought,  but  with  growing 
weariness.  Fifteen  minutes  passed.  The 
pull  was  drawing  him  in.  But  he  cared 
little.  Already  the  objects  about  him  ap- 
peared dark;  already  he  had  ceased  to  draw 
the  water  through  his  gills.  He  did  little 
more  than  flap  with  caudal  in  weak  effort 
at  resistance.  His  body  was  unwieldy, 
cumbersome,  unresponsive. 

He  was  near  the  surface.  A  black 
shadow  loomed  up  above  him;  a  circular 


FISH  MEETS  CANNY  ANGLER  101 

object  net-like  in  structure,  lowered  and 
advanced.  It  sank  about  him.  But  at  the 
touch  he  was  terrified.  He  bounded  back 
like  a  man  who  suddenly  encounters  an  un- 
known object  in  the  dark.  Inspired  by  the 
blind  terror  the  sudden  jerk  was  of  greater 
force  than  any  he  had  exerted  before.  He 
shot  high  into  the  air  and  turned.  The  hook 
slipped  back,  turned,  and  passed  out  over 
his  teeth,  leaving  him  free. 

He  zigzagged  wearily  back  to  Friendly. 


IX 


BLACK  BASS  and  Friendly 
swam  side  by  side  like  boy  and  girl 
strolling  down  a  maple-shaded  road. 
Behind  them  like  the  spread  of  a  fan  the 
others  followed.  A  month  had  passed 
since  the  affair  with  the  angler;  and  Old 
Black  Bass  had  fully  recovered.  The  hook 
wound  had  troubled  him,  but  clean  waters 
had  soothed  it  to  healing. 

He  was  well.  Never  in  his  years  had 
the  full  tide  of  life  so  pounded  through 
him.  Energy  was  in  his  muscles,  clean 
power  in  the  arch  of  his  head ;  and  he  swam 
by  Friendly  with  an  easy  confidence  that 
suggested  and  dominated  and  triumphed. 
1 02 


THE  BATTLERS  103 

They  were  going  to  the  head  of  the  lake. 
Inlet  waters  called  them,  cold  stone-harried 
waters  from  the  hills.  For  up  at  the  inlet 
were  the  shiners,  up  where  the  current 
pushed  them  from  the  river  nooks  to  the 
open  lake. 

Just  how  Old  Black  Bass  and  his  school 
knew  the  head  waters  of  the  lake  provided 
the  best  foraging  spot  no  man  may  know. 
Perhaps  a  sense  of  direction  perceived  by 
the  lateral  line  told  them,  perhaps  the  faint 
current  created  by  the  running  water  as  it 
swept  into  the  lake.  But  it  might  have 
been  a  Voice,  an  old  Paleozoic  urge  that 
turned  them  to  feeding-ground  as  the  an- 
adromous  salmon  is  lured  up  the  cascading 
river. 

On  they  swam,  past  old  foundations 
where  homes  had  once  stood,  up  hollows 
where  in  the  lush  of  the  olden  days  the 
cattle  had  browsed,  around  the  mellowed 
roots  of  old  forest  trees,  past  great  bowlders. 
Now  the  water  was  dark,  now  lighted  by 
the  glimmer  of  the  sun  on  the  surface. 

In  time  they  approached  the  prime  feed- 
ing-ground. But  while  yet  afar  off  their 
sense  of  pressure  apprised  them  of  the 


104  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

presence  of  other  life  in  the  vicinity.  Faint 
shocks,  vague  stirrings  of  the  water,  slight 
wavelets  on  the  distant  surface  all  informed 
them  that  the  proposed  spot  was  already 
occupied. 

They  drew  nearer;  then  saw.  The 
pickerel  were  there.  Long  they  were  and 
pale.  Where  the  bass  were  short  and  dark 
and  thick,  the  pickerel  were  very  light, 
almost  white,  and  their  bodies  were  long 
and  slender.  Their  heads  were  pointed  and 
shapely,  fins  of  silken  softness,  and  their 
movements  lithe  and  graceful  as  the  ges- 
tures of  exquisite  dancers. 

As  Old  Black  Bass  led  his  school  up  to 
them  the  pickerel  ceased  movement.  Two 
families  of  the  Pisces  faced  each  other  in 
the  quiet  waters  of  Lone  Pine.  Two  groups 
of  implacable  foes,  for  between  the  bass  and 
the  pickerel  is  ancient  enmity;  a  great 
hatred  that  abates  not,  neither  is  forgotten. 
And  whenever  they  meet  is  war. 

But  even  the  eye  of  hate  may  not  be  too 
blind,  nor  could  it  fail  to  concede  a  certain 
respect  for  the  pale  giants.  They  were 
lords.  They  were  fighters  as  fierce  and 
bold  as  the  bass.  They  feared  nothing  save 


THE  BATTLERS  105 

man.  Their  grace  and  beauty  masked  a 
nature  subtle  as  the  serpent,  patient  as  the 
setter,  and  terrible  as  the  cougar. 

It  was  fitting  that  in  Old  Black  Bass's 
career  he  should  face  this  ancient  foe.  The 
highest  selection  of  his  own  race,  a  fitting 
survival  of  all  the  Micropterus  Salmoides 
that  had  gone  before,  it  was  meet  that  he  as 
the  representative  of  his  line  should  stand 
against  this  primordial  contender. 

Nor  did  the  giant  leader  of  the  pickerel 
school  seem  dismayed  at  the  prospect. 
He  waited  expectant,  motionless  save  for 
gentle  swaying  of  paired  fins,  lidless  eyes 
unwavering,  an  antagonist  that  should  ask 
no  quarter  and  give  none. 

Among  primitive  men  leaders  alone 
fought  first.  Thus  not  the  army  behind 
him,  but  Goliath  alone  stalked  forth  to  con- 
tend with  Israel's  choicest.  So  now  Old 
Black  Bass  moved  past  his  school  and  stood 
out  solitary  as  the  representative  of  his  kind. 
And  by  silken  movement  of  his  tail  the 
giant  pickerel  advanced  a  foot. 

The  voices  of  the  past  whispered  wisdom 
to  Old  Black  Bass,  speaking  gently  as  a 
coach  calls  directions  to  his  nine.  Whis- 


io6  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

pered  the  tactics  of  the  pickerel,  how  he 
fights  subtly,  employing  cunning,  tries  ex- 
haustion as  himself  having  measureless  en- 
durance, playing  about  his  antagonist  with 
lithe  body  till  he  is  too  wearied  to  resist, 
then  closing  for  the  slaughter. 

The  awareness  of  these  voices  was  Old 
Black  Bass's  superior  advantage.  They  put 
at  his  disposal  the  wisdom  of  the  past.  His 
was  an  organism  of  superior  endowment, 
quick  insight,  subtle  intuition,  unerring 
judgment,  gigantic  strength. 

So  now  instead  of  lunging  recklessly  and 
wearing  himself  out,  after  the  manner  of 
his  kind,  he  came  warily,  craftily.  But  he 
advanced  joyfully.  This  was  his  great 
chance.  Here  was  occasion  when  he  could 
place  at  the  service  of  his  beloved  school 
the  last  full  measure  of  his  new  devotion. 
Should  each  school  attack  the  other,  many 
would  slip  into  the  great  Darkness  that 
day  and  float  belly-up  to  the  shore.  But 
should  he  contend  and  win,  his  kind  would 
live.  It  was  his  opportunity  to  atone  for 
the  past,  to  make  up  to  the  school  for  those 
thoughtless  years  of  selfishness  and  cruelty. 

His  eye  ran  over  the  great  pickerel  from 


THE  BATTLERS  107 

head  to  tail,  taking  in  the  long  mouth  filled 
with  twin  rows  of  sharp,  cruel  teeth;  the 
pink  gills  vibrating  gracefully  in  the  water; 
the  long  pale  body,  dark  at  the  top,  lighter 
on  the  belly,  streaked  with  faint  lines  of 
light  blue;  the  fins  small  and  fanning;  down 
to  the  long  forked  tail.  Old  Black  Bass 
noted  all,  and  with  a  suggestion  of  infinite 
patience  and  cunning  slowly  approached. 

This  was  unusual,  as  the  pickerel  had 
expected  a  lunge,  a  quick  stop,  and  a  stab 
at  his  belly  by  the  long  bayonet  of  the  dorsal 
fin.  But  this  did  not  happen.  Old  Black 
Bass  was  heeding  the  voices  of  the  past,  and 
fighting  the  pickerel  with  his  own  cunning. 
Back  and  to,  here  and  there,  now  above, 
now  below,  driving,  backing,  churning,  he 
annoyed  the  pickerel  with  a  patience  that 
was  tireless.  And  ever  was  the  cold  look 
in  his  eye  as  of  one  biding  his  time. 

But  never  had  he  encountered  so  near  an 
equal.  Twice  the  pointed  mouth  of  the 
long  fish  opened  and  closed  with  snap  of 
rage,  annoyance  doubling  the  fury  of  the 
strike.  But  for  most  part  he  too  was  patient, 
ominous,  confident,  maneuvering  for  posi- 
tion whence  he  might  strike  with  decisive 


108  OLD  BLACK  BASS 

consequence.  He  swam  low,  to  leave  no 
room  beneath  him  for  the  bayonet  thrust 
of  dorsal. 

He  drew  first  blood.  From  behind  he 
scraped  forward  and  with  needle  teeth 
raked  the  vulnerable  gills.  One  gave  way 
and  parted,  hanging  like  a  frayed  line.  It 
was  a  dangerous  thrust.  The  supple  body 
then  turned  and  danced  bewilderingly 
about.  Triumph  showed  in  every  move- 
ment 

But  Old  Black  Bass  gave  absolutely  no 
sign.  He  was  unconcerned,  seemingly  in- 
different to  the  pain.  With  cold  purpose- 
fulness  he  followed  the  agile  monster.  He 
backed,  charged  with  unexpected  and  tell- 
ing ferocity,  and  struck  the  pickerel  over 
the  air  bladder.  The  finger-shaped  lung  re- 
coiled at  the  impact,  staggering  the  sur- 
prised fish. 

Then  both  accelerated  the  pace.  The 
pickerel  struck  like  the  release  of  a  coiled 
spring,  leaped  high  and  descending  drag- 
ged again  at  the  vulnerable  gills.  For  just 
as  in  fighting,  one  dog  tries  for  the  throat 
and  another  for  the  foot,  so  the  great  pick- 
erel aimed  for  the  most  alarming  spot  of 


THE  BATTLERS  109 

all,  the  gills.  For  this  reason  he  was  the 
Killer,  so  known  of  his  school. 

But  Old  Black  Bass  kept  on.  Back  and 
forth  he  followed  the  agile  Killer,  lidless 
eyes  unwavering.  He  bore  the  thrusts  with- 
out sign,  received  the  blows  with  no  dimin- 
ishing of  his  watchfulness. 

The  voices  had  told  him  what  to  do, 
though  he  had  never  done  it  before.  And 
he  was  awaiting  opportunity  to  obey  them. 
Sooner  or  later  he  knew  the  opening  would 
come. 

But  it  must  hurry.  Already  two  gill 
slits  hung  like  frayed  strings  at  his  cheek. 
Already  red  wound  clung  welt-like  to  his 
side.  And  still  the  Killer  charged.  His 
movements  seemed  effortless,  his  endurance 
unbelievable.  More  than  once  Old  Black 
Bass  felt  his  nerves  on  the  point  of  snapping 
before  the  ubiquitous  white  streak  and  his 
endless  motion. 

But  he  endured.  It  was  the  greatest  fight 
that  ever  was  waged  or  ever  should  be 
fought  again.  And  the  outcome  would  be 
of  greater  significance  than  either  of  the  two 
fish  dreamed.  For  it  would  answer  the 
question  among  men  often  asked,  as  to 


no          OLD  BLACK  BASS 

whether  the  bass  or  the  pickerel  shall  be  the 
dominant  game  fish  of  the  American  waters. 
This  test  was  typical,  representative  of  the 
two  races,  symbolical  of  the  group  struggle 
that  in  the  years  to  come  would  end  the 
dominance  of  one  and  establish  the  other. 

Friendly  saw  the  wounds  of  her  mate 
and  was  distressed.  She  would  have  inter- 
vened had  nature  not  bade  otherwise. 
Leaper  would  have  gone  in  now  and  thrown 
his  unwearied  spirit  into  the  struggle,  but 
he  knew  it  was  not  so  to  be. 

From  beneath  the  Killer  clamped  his 
plierlike  jaws  about  Old  Black  Bass's  body 
just  back  of  the  anal,  and  the  grip  held. 
The  big  bass  lashed  his  body  furiously  to 
break  it,  but  the  supple  pickerel  snapped 
back  and  to  at  the  lashings  like  the  cracker 
of  a  whip.  But  it  was  a  body  wound  alone, 
and  pierced  no  viscera  or  vital  organ.  He 
loosed  his  hold  to  snap  higher  up  on  the 
belly,  as  a  dog  will  loose  to  catch  deeper. 
But  the  instant  the  jaws  slackened  Old 
Black  Bass  wrenched  free. 

One  of  the  pickerel's  long  teeth  caught 
in  the  heavy  skin.  He  was  lifted  high  be- 
fore he  could  free  himself.  And  with  the 


THE  BATTLERS  in 

Killer  above  him,  the  Voices  told  Old  Black 
Bass  that  the  time  had  come.  He  rose 
quicker  than  the  eye  could  follow,  reared 
and  raked  his  sawlike  dorsal  down  the  pick- 
erel's belly. 

Small  white  scales  like  tiny  flecks  of 
crystal  silvered  the  water.  Red  gash 
opened  the  pickerel's  body,  exposing  the 
viscera.  Water  rushed  into  the  cavity.  He 
whirled  belly-up  like  an  overturned  canoe. 

The  fight  was  over. 

For  a  moment  the  other  bass  of  the  school 
were  motionless.  They  were  still  under  the 
spell  of  the  great  conflict.  But  when  Old 
Black  Bass  dropped  wearily  down,  there 
was  awakening:  opening  and  closing  of 
gills  like  a  deep  sigh;  movement  of  relief; 
glances  toward  the  great  fish  that  conveyed 
sympathy  and  gratitude. 

He  was  gory,  scarred,  and  weary.  But 
Friendly  swam  up  to  him,  and  like  a  blush- 
ing maiden  leading  scarred  but  victorious 
gladiator  from  an  old  Roman  arena,  she 
squared  her  body  with  his  and  swam 
proudly  by  his  side  to  the  deep. 


YB  10335 


